


For You I Will

by raquelsleatherjacket



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Drama, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mystery, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:14:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 49,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28620897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raquelsleatherjacket/pseuds/raquelsleatherjacket
Summary: Raquel was a well-known journalist who had just been offered an amazing opportunity at work. In her personal relationships, she had only one rule: not to let herself get involved.A rule that worked perfectly – until she met Sergio.
Relationships: Berlin | Andrés de Fonollosa/Palermo | Martín Berrote/Tatiana, Denver | Daniel Ramos/Mónica Gaztambide, Nairobi | Ágata Jiménez/Alicia Sierra, Raquel Murillo/Professor | Sergio Marquina
Comments: 53
Kudos: 117





	1. Folla, Casa o Mata?

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [For You I Will](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/739308) by Lua 🌙. 



> Hi, lovelies!!
> 
> I present to you all my current work in progress, For You I Will!
> 
> After getting back to Never Let Me Go's universe to write those extra chapters, I needed to go back to the beginning of For You I Will to get the groove going again, so I thought a good way to do so would be translating it to English and posting it here while I write the upcoming chapter!
> 
> Here's a link to the fic's playlist: https://tiny.cc/FYIW
> 
> I'll let you guys know in the notes where the songs for each chapter begin and end, case in point:
> 
> 🎵 This chapter’s playlist starts with “Woman's World”, by Estelle, and goes up to “Siren”, by Tanerélle 🎵
> 
> Can't wait to hear what you think 🥰
> 
> I'm on Twitter as @_cualquierlugar ❤️

_Kind of close, hey  
_ _Do you know what I can do to you?  
_ _But who knows? Hey  
_ _I might just be good to you  
_ _I've been ruling the world  
_ _But I got a little spare time_

Raquel sat down slowly, allowing her lungs to be invaded by the smell of fresh coffee. She was mentally tired as hell – it had been a long day of revising and correcting her story and right now there was nothing she wanted more in the world than a massage on her shoulders.

Still, she closed her eyes, trying to momentarily forget that she was sitting in a cubicle in the middle of a newsroom while the clock’s hands refused to move towards the final office hour.

The calm lasted for all of ten seconds, because in the next instant it was already being interrupted.

"I can entertain you over this coffee if you want me to," Alicia suggested, pushing her wheelchair to get closer to her friend's desk.

"Oh, really?" Raquel pursed her lips to blow the espresso she held in her hands. "With what?"

“A fuck, marry or kill, in memory of the old days,” she shrugged, referring to one of their old pastimes.

Raquel laughed. She and Alicia had known each other for years, ever since college to be exact. They graduated in the same journalism class and, despite the years they lived apart – Raquel spending time in Bilbao and Alicia in Valencia – they ended up returning to Madrid at the same time, almost six years ago.

Alicia had always worked in major magazines and newspapers, while Raquel had always stuck to smaller publications. They ended up being lucky enough to be hired for Faro Es in the same selection process, and currently they were two of the four female reporters that the independent news agency had in its office.

"Vale," Raquel nodded.

“Ángel, Suárez and Antoñanzas,” the redhead whispered, uncharacteristically careful so that no one else near them could hear their conversation.

"Really, Ali?"

"Come on, just… humor me?"

"Well..." The blonde took a deep breath as she thought, biting her lower lip before whispering: "Sex with Suárez, of course."

"In fact, you already did," Alicia added.

"Shut up, you too," Raquel rolled her eyes.

"I never said I didn’t," she lifted both shoulders and made an expression of satisfaction, but her friend seemed to keep thinking about the other options.

"Ángel is nice, but he looks at me in a very strange way," she concluded. "So I think I would kill him and marry Antoñanzas."

"To be honest, I think if Ángel died in his hands he would die happy," Alicia twisted her lips into a smirk, taking her water bottle and opening it as she continued. "Although he would certainly prefer another type of death."

Raquel rolled her eyes.

"Got it? _La petite mort_ ,” the redhead widened her eyes expectantly, proud of her own joke.

Raquel looked at her with a reproachful expression, although she was holding back her laugh with some difficulty.

Alicia pursed her lips and shrugged. "Did I lie?"

Just then, Prieto opened the door to his office, causing Raquel and Alicia to shut up immediately, turning their heads to watch him. He frowned, looking around the office as if he was searching for something or _someone_ , until his eyes landed directly on Raquel.

"Murillo," he pointed his index finger at her, motioning for her to follow him, and then turned away and returned to his office leaving the door open.

Raquel looked at Alicia, whose forehead was wrinkled, giving her a suspicious look, as if asking what that was about. The blonde shrugged – any of her friend's bet was as good as hers on that matter – and simply followed her boss into his office.

"Close the door, please," he asked as soon as Raquel passed through the door frame. That’s when she got _really_ intrigued. She obeyed, closing the door behind her and walking over to his table, where he was sitting and watching her closely. "Have you finished your article about the women's prison?"

"Yes, I’m down to the last formatting adjustments," she replied, nodding.

"Good," he said, leaning back on his chair. "What I'm going to tell you is extremely confidential," he paused, as if he was warning her with a look and she nodded again, eager to show him that she understood. "I just received information from a source about a possible fraud scheme by a Toledo-based company."

She widened her eyes, surprised, not knowing how to answer him. She could not believe that she was being chosen to confirm information he had received – and at that moment she allowed herself to be proud of her work. According to Alicia, her story on the invisibility and precarious life quality of the female prison population had been, in the best compliment she could give, an outrage and apparently this was the reward.

"I want you to investigate the claim and, if you can prove it, it's your story," he said, interlacing his fingers and resting his hands together on his lap.

"It will be a pleasure and an honor," Raquel smiled, trying to maintain her professionalism even though, on the inside, she was extremely excited by the opportunity. Fraud cases normally had a lot of traction in the press and she knew this could be a milestone in her career.

For an instant, she could have sworn she saw the corners of his lips curl into a small satisfied smile, but as soon as he nodded, his stoic and measured expression was back.

"I will forward you the information I received by email," he said, turning his attention to the computer.

"Thank you," Raquel replied, walking towards the door with a smile on her face.

She closed the door behind her when she left the office, but was startled when she turned to the left and Alicia appeared in front of her, a lollipop in her mouth and her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“ _La madre que la pariu,_ ” Raquel huffed, placing her hand on her chest as she recovered from her friend’s scare.

"So, what's up?" Her friend asked, holding the white lollipop handle and turning it on its axis.

Raquel smiled, bending her head. "I can't tell you..."

"Your ass you can’t," she pursed her lips and her friend shot her a surprised look, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, sorry, your ass could and would for days," she corrected herself and Raquel stifled a laugh. "But you got my point, tell me."

"I really can't," Raquel shrugged, walking over to her desk with Alicia in tow, just a step away from her. "It's confidential and privileged information," she said, emulating all the presumption she knew would make her friend squirm. Then, she turned to the redhead and softened her expression, letting out the air and smiling at her. "I can only tell you that I have a new story to cover."

"Madre mía!" Alicia exclaimed, opening a smile and giving her a celebratory pat on the shoulder. Raquel didn't need to say much more than that – she knew what that meant. “I told you that this prison story was incredible, it’s not surprising you got this one. It's an important story, isn't it?”

Raquel nodded. "I think it could be, yes."

"Well, let's celebrate this today!" She replied, looking at the clock on Raquel's desk. “In fact, look at how the stars aligned, our workday has just ended. Let's go home for dinner and we’ll get Món,” she declared, going over to her table to toss all her belongings into her huge bag.

"Ali, it's a Wednesday," Raquel said, in a scolding tone, and the redhead turned with her mouth half open, ready to protest and grumble, before seeing the playful smile on her friend's face. "Today Mirko’s at Ulay."

“Our beloved Mirko, hallowed be your name, take us to our kingdom,” she dramatically put her palms together and closed her eyes as if she were praying, an incredible image considering the bump in her cheek due to the lollipop that was still in her mouth.

Raquel laughed, grabbing all of her own belongings before linking her arm with her friend’s to finally get out of that office for the day.

_So if you can't handle this, it's fine  
_ _I've had so many cowards wanting my bad  
_ _But only so much at a time  
_ _God forbid I love myself  
_ _That's no good for them  
_ _They want a girl who won't run_

 _But if you need a new habit  
_ _Who's beautiful tragic  
_ _Well then, I believe I'm the one_

The greatest thing about having an apartment downtown was that it was so close to the office where they worked. A few blocks and a subway ride later, the two of them arrived home in less than half an hour.

When they returned to Madrid after some time away, Raquel fell in love with the apartment they were currently living in. The only problem was that the apartment had three vacant bedrooms and the rent was too expensive to be paid with the salary of just one journalist.

So Raquel invited Alicia to live with her and after placing an ad on the internet, they met Mónica, and since then the three had been sharing a spacious and luxuriously located apartment in the heart of Madrid.

Raquel and Alicia hoped to get home and find Mónica making dinner, since Wednesday was her cooking day, but they were surprised to open the door and find their friend sunk on the couch, sitting with her legs folded, and crying copiously.

"Món?" Raquel was the first to arrive at her side, dropping her bag somewhere in the middle of the path and kneeling down next to her friend.

"Món, what's wrong?" Alicia came over, sitting next to her.

"Hey," Raquel tried to wipe the tears from her friend's face, a worried expression on her own face. "What happened?"

Mónica tried to hold back her tears and let out a frustrated breath. "Arturo happened."

Raquel saw Alicia's jaw tighten at the mere mention of Mónica's boss. It was not the first time that the two heard complaints about Arturo, who often took advantage of his hierarchical position to harass Mónica with sexist comments and improper touches.

"What did the bastard do?" Alicia asked, in a tone of voice so serious that even Raquel's eyes widened.

“Since I started blocking his advances, he has retaliated with aggressive comments and by finding a thousand defects in my work. And today he called me incompetent in the middle of the meeting with everyone in the department,” Mónica vented. “I have never felt so humiliated in my life. I know it’s nothing big, but-”

"Hey, don’t say that," Raquel interrupted. "You have every right to feel the way you do, even though he doesn't have _any_ right to treat you that way."

"I swear if I see this man in front of me I will cut his balls off and still make him wear them as earrings," Alicia rolled her eyes while using one hand to caress her friend's back. At least Alicia's comment made Mónica let out a hoarse laugh and then a heavy exhale.

After a minute of silence, she rolled her eyes. "I can’t take it anymore."

"Món..." Raquel took her hand, stroking her fingers with her thumb. “I know it's hard to think about it, but… you can quit, if you want to. I know it sucks to know that nothing is going to happen to him, because there is no one above him, but what matters most here is that you take care of yourself, okay? It’s not good for your health, mental or physical, to continue working in a place that only wears you out.”

"Raquel is right, Món," Alicia agreed. "And if it’s too much and you need us to hold down the fort until you find another job, you can count on us."

Mónica took a deep breath of relief. She squeezed Raquel's hand and placed her other hand on Alicia's thigh, looking at the two of them with her eyes still swollen, but her expression far smoother than it was before.

"Thank you," she said. "Really. I don't know what I would do without you.”

"The good thing is that you don't even have to think about it," Raquel smiled. "We're here."

"You know, Raquel got a very important lead today, we wanted to celebrate with a few drinks and a little cumbia," Alicia suggested, pushing the blonde slightly with her shoulders. "Why don't you come with us?"

Mónica took a deep breath, shaking her head. “Ay, tías, you go. I don't know if I'm in the mood to go out today.”

"All the more reason for you to come with us – get out of this sinking hole," Raquel suggested, shrugging her shoulders purposefully.

"Yeah, what helps me the most when I get angry at the newsroom _gilipollas_ is finding other _gilipollas_ that make me feel better," Alicia turned her palms up, as if she were measuring the two options on a scale. Mónica smiled.

"Yes, I bet you can quickly find a man to distract you," Raquel winked, biting her lower lip.

"Or a woman," the redhead added suggestively and her friends laughed. “Just making sure your possibilities are very clear, if you wish. I particularly recommend it.”

She and Raquel looked at Mónica with a pout, begging her to consider, until the blonde shook her head, taking a deep breath.

"Vale," she rolled her eyes, smiling. "We'll go."

_I'm a stingy girl  
_ _Are you sure you wanna be mine?  
_ _Are you sure you wanna be mine?_

 _Because I've heard  
_ _I can be a bad girl  
_ _But in the best way  
_ _In the best of ways_

After dinner, a shower break and a shared moment to get ready in the living room to the sound of “Man, I Feel Like a Woman”, the three of them stopped in front of the wide full-length mirror that they had in one corner of the room.

“Wow,” Mónica let out an incredulous laugh, running her hand through her green dress with thick straps and a measured neckline – the height stopped just above her knees, being a little more loose at the bottom, but well adjusted to her waist. "Vale, I’ll admit that I feel better seeing myself all dressed up."

"I knew it!" Alicia cheered, leaning over the mirror to apply the final layer of her red lipstick. She was wearing a short white dress in shiny fabric, which glimmered so much under the lights that it appeared to be composed of small diamonds, with long sleeves and a flashy neckline. Maybe on other people the dress would be tacky, but on Alicia it looked like it cost a million dollars.

Raquel just smiled as she straightened her hair in a bun with a wooden shaft as she applied her lipstick. She wore a short tube dress, with thin straps and a square neckline, made of a burgundy silk fabric that tightened all her curves in all the right places. She loved that dress and normally saved it for the days she would go out to dance with her friends, considering the self-confidence boost the dress gave her and the mobility it allowed her to make, considering all of her moves on the dance floor.

"Are you ready?" She asked her friends, arching her eyebrows in excitement.

Wednesday was one of Raquel's favorite nights at Ulay, one of the clubs she and Alicia loved most in Madrid – the resident artists for the Wednesday nights were a cumbia band composed only of women, and they were always preceded by a fantastic DJ. When the girls arrived in front of the club, at eleven at night, they were not surprised to find a line in front of the door.

Luckily, it was Mirko who was at the door as a security guard after all. He was an old acquaintance of the two since the fateful night Alicia gave a man a rear naked choke after he harassed her about five years ago. Mirko only noticed what was going on when the guy's friends walked over to Alicia and Raquel, minutes later, threatening both of them, and he quickly managed to expel them, returning soon after with the club manager to offer the two women an invitation to spend the rest of the night in the VIP area.

Mirko was a large, tall man with a long, thick beard and a Serbian accent, and he could look like a brute man to anyone who saw him from a distance, but to anyone he let himself get close to, he was a loving teddy bear – both because of his temperament and because of the huge bear that he had tattooed on his belly – who they eventually nicknamed Helsi after learning for how long he had lived in Finland.

He seemed to be focused on his work with a serious expression on his face until he saw his favorite clients walking towards him.

"Mi guapas!" He flashed them a smile, welcoming Raquel, Alicia and Mónica with a hug that almost took them off the floor.

"Mirko!" They exclaimed almost in unison.

"How are you?" He asked, ignoring the ugly glares he was getting from the people in line.

"Good, how about you?" Raquel asked. "How's Otto doing?"

"I’m doing very well and between us... You girls were right," he laughed, looking slightly ashamed. "I asked him out and he accepted."

"Aaaahhh," the women exclaimed, letting out some onomatopoeic sounds and clapping their hands, excited by the news.

"I'm happy, Helsi, you deserve it," Alicia replied, reaching out to stroke his goatee with her glass nails. "How are things in there?"

"Why don't you go inside and look for yourselves?" He winked at the women, removing the hook from the rope that separated them from the front door.

"Thank you, see you later!" Mónica thanked the security man, waving at him.

They heard some people in the queue grumbling as they passed, but it seemed that Mirko must have shot them a withering look, as all objections ceased quickly after that. Although the band had not yet started to play, the club was already packed. The three of them left their jackets in the closet near the entrance and went straight to the bar to order their drinks.

"Good evening," Raquel greeted the bartender, who smiled at them. "Can you get us three Moscow Mules, please?"

Within a few minutes, the friends were already raising their aluminum mugs for a toast.

"To a delightful evening," Alicia suggested, arching her eyebrows suggestively.

"Vale," Raquel and Mónica agreed, bringing their mugs together with a click.

After a few sips, Raquel thought she saw a familiar face in the crowd and turned to her red-haired friend.

"Hey, look over there, isn't that Germán?" She pointed with her chin at one corner of the club and Alicia almost twisted her neck to check. "Careful or you’ll break your neck," she laughed.

The redhead raised her middle finger to her, making the blondes laugh.

"Am I going there now?" She asked herself out loud. "Ah, screw it," she said, picking up her bag and lifting her index finger to point at the two. "I'm going to make out for a bit and I'll come find you."

"Shall we dance then?" Raquel suggested to her friend, swallowing the rest of her drink in two large sips and leaving her mug on the bar counter before pulling Mónica towards the dance floor.

_One night with me and  
_ _You won't be sleeping for days  
_ _So are you gonna get hooked or not?_

 _Make the choice while you can  
_ _While you can  
_ _Make sure it’s the right one  
_ _‘Cause there ain't no running  
_ _Ain't no running back  
_ _Ain't no running back_

Dancing was Raquel's favorite part whenever she was going out with her friends. Especially if it was to the rhythm of Latin music, which often made her let go with each swing of her hip. It was like therapy, a time when she completely forgot about her work – which she _loved_ , but could be really stressful –, the problems of the world she had to deal with in order to write her news stories, her insecurities, all the bills she had to pay. It was a moment for her and her alone, when she allowed herself to pay attention to nothing else other than the songs and to every movement of her body.

She and Mónica danced to some songs excitedly, until they were interrupted by a man coming up behind Raquel to dance with her, making her roll her eyes and send him off. She hated it when men simply thought they could touch her body without her permission, without even exchanging looks before anything. After managing to drive away the unwanted attention with a short and threatening answer, she resumed dancing with her friend, who seemed to look around a little too thoughtfully for her concern.

"Món, what's wrong?" Raquel asked, frowning at her friend.

Mónica turned to look at her friend again, smiling, embarrassed. "I was just looking around..."

“Ah, sorry,” Raquel raised her hands and made an impressed expression. "Please, look away."

"I wish I had the confidence you and Ali just... exude," the blonde laughed. "You know how shy I am, I don't know how to approach a man."

"Well, the truth is that you don't have to do much to get a man's attention," Raquel laughed and Mónica smiled. "Look at you, what guy in his right mind will say no to _you_?"

"Thank you, babe, but... I don't know, I don't know how to do this," she shrugged, exhaling heavily. "I think I'll just drink away for the night," she said, starting to spin on her heels to turn around to the bar, when Raquel pulled her by the arms.

"Not at all," she turned her friend around, raising her a warning finger. "I'll fix your problem very quickly, just you watch," Raquel licked her lips, looking around for someone who looked remotely interesting to introduce to her friend.

It was then that she saw him – a man who appeared to be her age, which meant he was a little older than Mónica, sporting a thick beard of several days, medium-sized dark brown hair and thick-rimmed black glasses. Despite wearing a dress shirt and tie in a nightclub, which Raquel found odd, he was handsome. Even though he seemed totally out of place, he had a certain charm to him, she’d give him that.

And just as he was going to make his way past them, his gaze fixed on a point on the other side of the club, Raquel intercepted him, sliding on her heels to stop in front of him. He braked sharply, his eyes widening as he came face to face with Rachel, who was staring at him with a big smile on her face.

"Hello," she greeted him.

She saw the man frown at her, completely confused, and arched her eyebrows, waiting for an answer. This was not the kind of reaction she used to cause in men, but she ignored that small detail nonetheless.

"Hello?" He replied, his doubtful intonation making sure Raquel didn’t miss the question mark at the end of the sentence.

However, she wasted no time. "I’m Raquel, what’s your name?"

The man seemed to be stunned but after a pause he finally managed to answer her – "Sergio."

Raquel could feel him studying her closely, observing every trace of her face in a different way than she was used to. Usually, men looked at her in a way that used to bother her, but he seemed to be sincerely... _puzzled_. By her mere presence. She swallowed slowly but before she could give her reaction a second thought, she pulled Mónica to her side.

"Sergio, this is my friend Mónica," she said, gesturing towards her friend. "Món, this is Sergio."

“Hi,” Mónica greeted him, waving a hand sheepishly and smiling.

Sergio directed his gaze towards the curly-haired blonde and gave her an equally nervous smile. "Hi."

"So, Sergio, I need to go somewhere for a little bit, I thought you could keep my friend company in the meantime," Raquel explained, smiling politely without showing her teeth. “She would love to dance. What do you think?"

"Well, I..." Sergio alternated his gaze between the two women, not sure what to say. "Look, Mónica, I don't want to be rude, but... I have friends waiting for me."

"They can wait a little longer," Raquel said, shrugging it off.

"Thanks... but no," he let out the words along with the air in his lungs, adjusting his glasses with his fingertips and pushing them up the bridge of his nose. "Good night," he smiled, hoping he was cordial enough to dodge his way back to his brother.

"Forget it, Quel, I'm not going to find anyone here," Mónica forced a smile, although her eyes didn't lie, she didn't expect a random man turning down Raquel’s advances to sting so bad.

On the other hand, Raquel gasped, shocked by the stranger's response, and looked at Mónica as she shook her own head, frowning.

"You’re amazing, forget that asshole, Món," she said, giving her friend’s arms a soft caress.

Sergio felt his feet freeze against the floor. This wouldn't have bothered him normally – in fact, due to his incredible social awkwardness and ineptitude, he was used to being cursed by a string of worse words, but Raquel's tone of voice made him stop instantly, without even thinking twice. At that moment he blamed the whiskey, but there was little on his mind when he turned around and walked back to where the two were standing.

"Sorry, what did you call me?" He asked, looking at Raquel defiantly.

She, in turn, crossed her arms, huffing at his _audacity_ for not only having refused her friend so rudely, but still finding it him to come back asking for her to explain herself. What an arrogant man. Mónica could only hope for the floor to split in half and swallow her whole.

"I called you an asshole," Raquel replied, keeping her gaze steady and repeating the same exact word and intonation she had used.

"And may I ask you _why_ I'm an asshole?" He narrowed his eyes in her direction before looking over quickly at Mónica, who gave him the flash of a smile, rolling her eyes and shrugging, as if to say everything was fine.

"Because..." Raquel started to answer, a little bewildered because she didn't think she would have to explain this to him at all. "Because I didn't like the way you treated my friend," she replied, at a loss for better words.

"But I didn't do anything to your friend," Sergio frowned again. None of that made sense. _This woman_ made no sense at all.

"Exactly, you didn't even give her a chance," she countered. "You had the opportunity to meet a _wonderful_ woman and rudely said no to her face."

"Well, sorry if I was rude, it wasn't my intention," Sergio said, imitating her posture and crossing his arms in front of his stomach. "But I didn't know that I was forced to say yes."

With his arms crossed, his shirt sleeves marked his biceps and Raquel couldn't help letting her eyes wonder what was hidden under that mustard fabric. Only then did she notice that, in addition to the social shirt and green tie, he wore black dress pants and leather shoes that no one in their right mind would wear in a nightclub, which made her assume he had left directly from work to the club. She could bet 50 euros that his suit jacket was in the club’s locker.

Unfortunately, those clothes fit him very well and she let out a small exhale uncontrollably. She assured herself that the slip didn't last more than a second, but when she looked up at him, he raised his eyebrows at her. She didn't know if he had noticed her rather indecent look or just expected an answer, but she decided to bet on the second option.

"I didn't suggest that you two get married, just that you could dance with her," she replied, making a face so expressive that Sergio wanted to laugh. "Maybe then you would be lucky enough to have sex tonight."

His smile quickly faded.

"Perdona?" He objected, adjusting his glasses on his nose again before lowering his arms, puzzled. "You don’t know anything about me!” He looked around, trying to come up with a convincing argument. “I could be a serial killer.”

"Pfffft," she rolled her eyes, annoyed. “If we’re going to be hypothetical, Mónica could be the woman of your dreams, then what? You would never know because you _refused_ to speak to her for more than five seconds.”

"Sure, because I would certainly meet the woman of _my dreams_ in a _nightclub,_ from all possible places," it was his turn to roll his eyes, as if that was the most absurd notion he had ever heard in his life.

"With this librarian outfit, really, you might have better luck elsewhere," Raquel offered him a smirk, lifting her index finger to smooth the fabric of his tie. "If you let yourself go a little bit, mister professor, maybe you could find someone and have some fun, huh?" She crossed her arms again. "And that might help take that look of perpetual suffering off your face, of someone who is clearly very concerned with maintaining the illusion that he has control over his own life and feels the right to judge people who do not conform to his ideal."

"And this grateful advice comes from someone who just tried to match her own friend with a complete stranger?" He countered. "Maybe you should worry a little more about you being here trying to hide your emotional insecurity with futile and ephemeral relationships that only leave you feeling more empty inside."

Even Sergio couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. He swallowed, his gaze wandering around the nightclub, adjusting his posture with a slight sway of his shoulders. He was nervous when she didn't answer him immediately and looked back at her.

Raquel's lips were pressed in a thin line and something changed about her expression. It looked like she had put on an armor. However, she was not willing to let him come out on top, nor she seemed willing to demonstrate that his words hit somewhere deep inside her.

"Only more proof that you deserve the title you were given," Raquel narrowed her eyes, forcing a smile and uncrossing her arms to adjust her dress at the waist, which she knew made her cleavage look even more prominent.

She smiled, victorious, when she saw that his gaze fell right where she wanted it to, even if for a fraction of a second, before shamefully looking back into her eyes. Although his mouth was half open, no sound seemed to want to leave his throat.

Sergio swallowed his own saliva, trying to straighten his thoughts enough to think of an answer.

"Well, I don't want you to waste your time talking to an asshole, so I'm going to go," he finally replied, feeling bold enough by the alcohol he had ingested and the way she was looking at him that he slid his fingers down her arm on his way. "Good night, Raquel."

Raquel, on the other hand, felt a shiver run down her spine as he walked past her, leaving a trail of his woody scent and sliding his fingertips down her bare arm. And there was still the way he spoke her name, spelling out the "R" and "L" so clearly that it even sounded like a different name altogether.

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and shook her head from side to side as if she was trying to regain consciousness.

"Món, let's get anoth–" She turned to where her friend was, but she didn't find her there anymore, interrupting herself when she realized she was talking to herself in the middle of the dance floor.

At some point during her short discussion with Sergio, Mónica had managed to escape. And now, Raquel was alone and confused, with her thoughts and insecurities turned inside out by a complete stranger.

_Make the choice while you can  
_ _While you can  
_ _Make sure it’s the right one  
_ _‘Cause there ain't no running_  
 _Ain't no running back  
Ain't no running back_


	2. Deseo y Reparación

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again with this double update hahaha 🥰
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter ❤️
> 
> 🎵 This chapter’s playlist starts with “Make Me”, by Prinze George, and goes up to “Elephant”, by Hannah Georgas and you can listen to it here: https://tiny.cc/FYIW 🎵

_You are off kilter with me  
_ _Don't you know it's every other day of the week?  
_ _Your win my feat  
_ _These days I'm running to escape  
_ _Drenching my brain, soak in my mistakes  
_ _My mistakes_

Sergio continued to walk through the club going over the entirety of the interaction he had just had. His mind echoed each sentence exchanged between the two and rewound each look she had given him. And he still had no idea what the hell had just happened, but he also couldn't think of anything other than her. Raquel. He turned his face back to look for her in the crowd, but he didn't see her standing where he had left her.

It was then that he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, drawing his attention forward, and as he turned, he was greeted by his brother's drunken smile.

"Hermanito!" Andrés exclaimed, his eyes slightly squinted the way they always got when he was getting drunk. "Where were you? Trying to escape again?”

"No, I..." Sergio shook his head, as if the movement was going to help get that woman out of his head, and let out the air filling his lungs. He felt the muscles in his shoulders tighten against his brother's growing grip. "I went to get a drink."

Andrés narrowed his eyes in his direction, looking him up and down.

"And where's your drink?"

"I..." Sergio looked down, realizing that the purpose of his escape had been completely overlooked after running into Raquel and her friend. "I forgot."

His brother gave him a suggestive smile, taking his hand out of Sergio’s shoulder to give him a light tap on the cheek.

"Does your forgetfulness have anything to do with that blonde in the _rouge_ dress you were talking to?"

"No... Well, yes, she intercepted me on the way, she wanted me to dance with her friend," Sergio explained, adjusting his glasses with the tips of his fingers. His brother looked at him, puzzled, knowing with familiarity what that gesture meant.

"And didn't you want to dance with her friend?" Andrés asked, tilting his head slightly and giving his brother a dubious look. "I think you got a little distracted, hermanito."

Sergio sighed heavily. "Andrés, can we go now?" He changed the subject suddenly. "You know I don't like these places."

“Hey, hush. The night is only beginning,” his brother replied, directing him towards one of the high tables in the club where his friends were. "We are going to wait for Ágata to finish her set, the band will start soon, we will dance to some songs... and Martín said we will continue the party elsewhere."

“Continue the party? But it's almost half past eleven,” Sergio mumbled. "And it's a Wednesday."

Andrés rolled his eyes. "And what time do you teach tomorrow?"

"In the afternoon, but-"

" _Más nada,_ " his brother interrupted, shaking his head and turning around to stop in front of him. "Let's do it this way... why don't you go get your whiskey and look for the blonde your eyes were so set on?" He stretched his arms to adjust the collar of Sergio's dress shirt, giving his tie a little stretch before turning his brother on his axis and pushing him back into the crowd, whispering in his ear: “Have some fun, you deserve it."

_Is there any love left for me?  
_ _Is there any love left for me?  
_ _That dark sky yeah it's so big  
_ _Isn't anybody wondering?  
_ _Isn't anybody questioning what this all is?_

As she made her way between strangers in that dark club, Raquel was pissed. Who did this guy think he was? Reciting diagnoses about her love life when he didn't even know her. As if he were reading a clinical leaflet or the result of a Buzzfeed test.

She had an extremely healthy love life, thank you very much. She had sex when she wanted to, with whom she wanted and owed no satisfaction to anyone. She didn't need to get emotionally involved with anyone to feel complete, that was not her life.

Not that she saw anything wrong with someone who wanted to have a relationship, but that wasn't her. It never was and never would be. And she was happy like that. She was not emotionally insecure. She was not empty.

She just didn’t see any point in making any love relationship a priority in her life. In the hierarchy of her affections, her mother, sister and friends would come first. That simple. She grew up with a solo mother who was able to work and care for her and her sister and she did it with the help of her neighbors and family, _all women_. The most valuable lesson that her father had taught her when he left their family in the dead of night is that a relationship is no guarantee of anything. Absolutely anything.

So yes, maybe Raquel was used to having futile and ephemeral relationships – because that worked for her. There was no problem with that.

With that in mind, Raquel pulled the door to the bathroom and the first thing she saw was Alicia retouching her lipstick in front of one of the round mirrors above the sink.

"Ali!" She approached her, exhaling heavily. "I was looking for you."

"I needed to touch up my lipstick," Alicia smirked, winking at her friend through the mirror reflection, but when she realized that Raquel didn't even smile with her answer, she put the lipstick in her handbag and turned to her with a straight face. "Qué?"

"Nada," Raquel lied, shaking her head, as she bit her bottom lip hard. Alicia narrowed her eyes, but chose not to press too many buttons. She had known her for too long not to know how to play this game.

Then, the redhead looked for someone behind Raquel, looking back at her confused.

"Where's Món?"

Raquel sighed, frowning. "I kind of lost her."

Alicia walked up closer to her friend to make room for another woman who wanted to use the sink.

"How come you lost her?"

"I tried matchmaking her," Raquel raised her hands, gesturing an approximation with her fingers. “With an idiot named _Sergio–_ ”

 _Ah_. Alicia smiled. There it was. She couldn’t help herself and interrupted her right there.

"Is his name pronounced like that, with all that vigor?" She teased.

"Ah, _cállate_ ," Raquel rolled her eyes, huffing.

Alicia held back a laugh as she turned back to the sink to wash her hands.

"Okay, but what happened?"

"I started arguing with him and got distracted and when I turned around, Món wasn't there anymore," she continued explaining. "I came here to look for her."

"I thought you were looking for me?"

"Whatever, for both of you," she gestured with her hands, clearly frustrated. "I need a drink."

"Are you sure that what you need isn’t to sit down?" Alicia asked, drying her hands on two sheets of paper towels and giving her friend an amused look. "Perhaps you need to sit on this _Sergio_?"

"Ali, you don't even know half the shit he said to me," she widened her eyes, as if Alicia was saying something absurd. Because she was definitely not attracted to that weird bearded man with brown eyes and those biceps–

"What kind of shit?" Alicia asked, throwing out the paper towels and interrupting her unruly thoughts.

Raquel shrugged, letting out a grunt of rage just remembering it.

"Like saying that I hide my ‘emotional insecurity’..." she air quoted emphatically. "... with futile and ephemeral relationships that leave me feeling empty inside," she repeated, her jaw tensing with every word that came out of her mouth.

Alicia's eyes widened, nodding slowly as she seemed to ponder this stranger's assessment of her friend's romantic life. However, with every second that she remained silent, Raquel became more and more worried that he was right. Because part of her had felt the weight of those words, even though she didn't want to admit it.

"Alicia," she called out to her friend quietly, almost pleadingly.

"Mira, cariño, you know that I am against all this compulsory monogamy thing and I love having you as my faithful squire," the redhead took Raquel's hand, holding it against her chest. "But you do have a romantic side and you may have closed yourself off to–"

"–Why did you never tell me that before?" Raquel pulled her hand back, interrupting her friend's little speech. She didn't want to do that, not now.

Alicia blew out a breath. "Because you needed to be ready for this conversation."

Raquel looked down at her high heels, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought to herself. "I don't know if I'm ready to have this conversation in Ulay's bathroom."

Alicia nodded, approaching her with some caution and, seeing that Raquel did not move away, stroking her friend's arms reassuringly. "What do you want to do then?"

"I want to drink. Dance. Make out with someone before we go home,” Raquel replied slowly. "In that order."

"We have a to-do list then," Alicia smiled. "Shall we?"

Raquel took a deep breath and managed to give her friend a weak smile, turning to walk towards the door. She had meant to push the door open for Alicia to go through first, but as soon as she opened it, she felt that the door had slammed into something, a suspicion that was corroborated as soon as she heard the sound of glass crashing to the floor.

"Mierda..." She let go of the door behind her, turning to notice that she had actually slammed the door not on something but on _someone._

More specifically, _Sergio_ , who was shaking his hands repeatedly in the air as they were wet with the drink that had been spilled both on him and on the floor. He looked up at her, instantly flushed, and adjusted his posture.

"Uh, hi again," he said, making room for one of the club's employees who had already shown up with a broom and a shovel.

"Hi," Raquel replied, embarrassed. "Sorry, I didn't really see you..."

"It’s okay," he replied, gesturing with his hands. “It happens. I better... I better go wash my hands. ”

He entered the bathroom and Raquel closed her eyes for a few seconds, cursing her own luck. Or rather, her tremendous bad luck. She opened her eyes again and apologized effusively to the nightclub employee who was sweeping the broken glass off the floor. Then she found herself standing there, wondering if she should wait for the man she had just run into again or just forget that anything happened.

"Hey," Alicia called to her friend, who was apparently frozen in the middle of the hall. She pointed with her chin at the bathroom. "This is the…?"

Raquel nodded, in silence, and Alicia licked her lips, realizing exactly what was happening.

“I'm going to look for Món. See you later, okay?” She said, receiving only a low 'okay' as a response from her friend.

Alicia walked away, but turned on her heels to give her friend one last push – for moral support.

"Quel!" She waited for her friend to turn before smiling at her. "You can change the order of your to-do list, if you want to!"

And with a wink, she turned around again and disappeared into the crowd.

Almost synchronously, Sergio came out of the bathroom and seemed surprised to see that Raquel was still there. She looked at him with sadness in her eyes, her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. She didn't know whether to apologize again or offer to buy him a new drink.

Noticing her hesitation, he approached her cautiously.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

Raquel let out an incredulous laugh. "You want to know if I'm okay?"

Sergio shot him a confused look. "Well, yes."

"First I call you an asshole," she lifted a hand between them with her thumb out, starting a count with her fingers. "Then we have an argument in the middle of the dance floor, now I make you spill your drink... and you ask me if _I’m_ okay..."

Sergio offered her an uncertain smile, lifting his shoulders with tension.

"Are you?" He raised his eyebrows, still waiting for an answer.

She smiled nervously, shaking her head as she dropped her arm back to her side, feeling like a big idiot.

"Actually, not really, because I just found out that the asshole between us is me," she gave him an embarrassed laugh, and before he could interfere, she looked at him from under her lashes. "Can I at least buy you the drink I spilled?"

Sergio looked at her disconcerted, but nodded. "Claro."

They walked together to the bar and sat on two of the tall stools while waiting for the bartender who was serving a group of women on the other side.

Raquel looked at him with an embarrassed smile and, unconsciously, her gaze travelled down his mustard dress shirt. It was only then that she realized that the bottom of his shirt was wet.

"Are you sure you won't stain your clothes?" She pointed to the wet part of the fabric with her index finger.

He looked down briefly before looking back at her with an amused smile on his face.

" _Now_ you are worried about my librarian outfit?"

Raquel laughed, bringing her palm to her forehead in shame. "Don't make me feel even worse than I already am..."

"No, it’s no problem. Really,” he reached over the counter to lightly touch her hand, reassuring her that everything was fine, but as soon as he touched it, she felt as if an electric current was discharged all over her body and she watched him remove his hand from hers quickly, as if her skin burned.

Raquel looked at him, wondering internally if he had also felt it, that energy that made her fingers spasm as if her body had gone into a short circuit. She had never felt anything like this before. She swallowed, fleeing his intense gaze to see that the bartender was walking towards them.

"What were you drinking?" She asked, her voice a little lower than normal.

"Whiskey," Sergio replied, his voice hoarse.

"With ice?"

"Yes."

She turned to place the order with the bartender and showed him her numbered card for him to register the drinks. "Two whiskeys on the rocks, please."

Raquel looked back at Sergio again, offering him a small smile.

He took advantage of the silence to air the words that were stuck in his throat. "Look, about the things I said to you... I apologize, it wasn't my place or–"

"–Don’t, it’s fine," she interrupted, waving a hand. “I apologize, too, I don't… I shouldn't have said all those things. It's just– I'm a little… _protective…_ of my friends.”

"Well, that's a... commendable trait," he replied, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose, making Raquel wonder if that gesture was some kind of nervous tic.

She saw that the bartender slid the two glasses of whiskey across the counter and thanked him before taking her glass and looking back at Sergio.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have called you an asshole," she continued, taking a sip. "It's just that... she had a bad day, because of a real asshole, so..."

"I'm sorry for her," Sergio replied genuinely, sipping some of his whiskey. "What about you?"

"Hm?" Raquel frowned at him.

"Did you have a bad day too?"

"Not really," she smiled. "I received very good news at work."

Sergio smiled too. "Really? And what do you do?"

"I'm a journalist," she replied, allowing herself the feeling of pride that washed over her chest when she remembered the recognition she had. "And today my boss gave me what might be an important news story."

"Vale, let’s toast to that then," he raised his glass in the air, raising his eyebrows encouragingly.

"Gracias," Raquel replied, toasting her glass with his and taking another small sip before trying to satisfy her curiosity about him. "What about you? What are you doing here?"

He tried to swallow the whiskey quickly, giving her a playfully outraged look. "Me? I always come here.”

She laughed, simply imagining the man in front of her as a recurring presence in that club. He couldn't help but smile when he saw her arch her neck to laugh, knowing that it was him who had made her laugh like that, and he shrugged, resting his glass on the counter.

"My brother is getting married this weekend and he wanted to have a whole week worth of celebrations," Sergio explained, rolling his eyes.

"Aw," Raquel smiled, shrugging adorably. "I think it’s cute."

"It would be more... _cute_..." Sergio repeated the word used by her with emphasis, raising his eyebrows in an incredulous expression. "If it weren't for his fifth wedding."

" _Fifth_?" Her eyes widened in shock.

"Yes," he smiled, amused by the expression on her face. “In fact, I had no idea that we were going to come here today. He and one of his groomsmen came to pick me up at work and dragged me along.”

"And what do you work with?" Raquel asked, taking another sip of the drink, and for a moment Sergio's attention was lost on her lips.

"I am..." He started to speak, pausing to laugh when he remembered that she had actually nailed the answer to that question. "A teacher..."

"Are you kidding?" She smiled and, when he nodded, she started to laugh. He smiled back at her, infatuated by the way her nose wrinkled when she laughed, her ring piercing gleaming under the nightclub lights. "I knew it! What do you teach?”

"Administration," he said, taking a sip of his whiskey.

She raised an eyebrow. "Undergrad?"

"Postgraduate studies."

She gave him a puzzled look, but as soon as she opened her mouth to say something, the first harmonica chords began to play over the speakers. Raquel smiled, excited.

"The band! I love them,” she turned around to watch the group of women who played excitedly over the stage. However, Sergio couldn't look anywhere but at her.

He had been attracted to other women before, but there was something different about Raquel. He couldn't explain what it was, but he wouldn't mind spending the rest of his time with her trying to figure it out. And he certainly wouldn't mind trying to make her smile the way she was smiling at that moment. She moved her hips and arms to the beat of the music while her legs dangled on the stool where she was sitting.

Suddenly, she turned to him, smiling when she realized he was staring at her. "Do you wanna dance? With me, this time?”

The smile on Sergio's face slowly disappeared. He looked around, at that crowd gathering around the stage, dancing and singing the song the band played. He adjusted his glasses nervously and scratched his throat before he could turn his gaze back to her.

"I... I don't dance," he finally replied, feeling beads of sweat form on his forehead. He felt even worse when her smile also faded, disappointed. "But please, no – I don't want to hold you back," he got up quickly from the stool, eager to do anything that would make her smile again. "You can go dancing, I will–"

But then he stopped when his gaze fell just over Raquel's shoulder. And then he let out an incredulous laugh.

"What?" She asked, confused.

Sergio approached her and once again his woody scent filled all of Raquel's senses.

"Look over there," he pointed behind her with his chin.

She turned on the stool, with her back to him, and was still too distracted by how close he was to her to understand where she should be looking. "Hm?"

"I found your friend," he told her, discreetly pointing his index finger to where she was supposed to be looking – the pillar that Mónica was leaning against while she hungrily kissed a man in a black tank top.

Sergio looked away, leaning on the bar counter and looking at Raquel's profile, who was still staring at her friend, surprised.

"Díos mio..." Raquel babbled, softly, before turning to Sergio and starting to laugh.

"Should I be feeling remorseful that she has already moved on and is with someone else?" He joked.

"Maybe a little bit," she shook her head, pursing her lips and making a face. "But I think that one day you will move on too."

Sergio raised his eyebrows. "I don't know, she could be the woman of my dreams."

“In a nightclub? Nah,” she frowned and they both started laughing at the same time.

Raquel thought it was funny how, when he laughed, his eyes practically disappeared behind the lenses of his glasses. She noticed his lips, framed by that thick beard, and then she could only think of what it would feel like to have those lips against hers. She looked up into his eyes and saw the same desire reflected there.

“Sergio…” She mumbled, almost unconsciously, getting closer and closer and she could have sworn she saw him swallow in anticipation.

"PROFESSOR!" She was interrupted by the voice of a dark-haired man, with a few days' stubble, well groomed and with a broad smile, giving Sergio a friendly slap on the shoulder.

Sergio, in turn, turned to his friend as if his eyes could shoot arrows. Martín did not notice his glare, however, as he had already realized that he was not alone – in fact, he was accompanied by a beautiful woman, which made the newcomer turn his face back to Sergio as if he was impressed.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Martín's blue eyes fell once again on the blonde who was sitting there, his piercing stare accompanied by a mocking smile. "I couldn't see you had company."

“Ah, there you are, hermanito! Let's take some shots before we leave,” Andrés approached them, making the same mistake as Martín before noticing that Sergio was not alone. “Oops. Good evening. How are you?"

Behind him, another man, with longer hair and a mustache, approached in silence. Raquel looked at the three men who had interrupted her moment with Sergio and forced the most polite smile she could muster.

"Good evening," she replied, the words trailing between her teeth. "I’m fine and you?"

"Everything's dandy," he replied, smiling genuinely at the woman who had captured his younger brother's attention. "I am Andrés."

He rested his palm against his chest to introduce himself and Raquel noticed that he was wearing a dark blue long-sleeved shirt that looked like it was made of cashmere. Everything about him screamed _luxury_ and _money_ , unlike Sergio's modest clothes, which seemed to have belonged to his wardrobe for at least a decade.

"These are our friends, Martín and Marseille," he pointed to the men who accompanied him and Raquel offered them a small smile. “You've already met my little brother. Sorry, what's your name?”

Andrés raised his palm and Raquel offered him her own, hoping for a handshake but not imagining that he would bring it to his lips to lay a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Raquel," she replied, noticing from the corner of her eye that Sergio was offering her an apologetic look, although she wanted to ask what he was apologizing for. His older brother's creepily gallant manner? Or the interruption of a moment between the two of them?

"Raquel," Andrés said her name emphatically, letting go of her hand. Then he rubbed his palms conspiratorially before putting an arm around Sergio's shoulders. “Mira, we’re going to meet up some friends and continue the party somewhere else, don't you want to come with us? The DJ who was playing here is our friend and she’s going to play there as well.”

"Thanks for the invitation, but I'm here with my friends," she replied, taking a sip of her whiskey.

"You can invite them too," Andrés waved a hand, raising his eyebrows at her. “The more the merrier, huh? Even more so if they are as beautiful as—”

“ _Andrés_ ,” Sergio interrupted his brother, shooting him a deadly glare. "You can go and order the shots, I'll be right there."

“Okay, okay… Nice to meet you,” Andrés smiled at Raquel, squeezing his brother's shoulder. He signaled to his friends as he began to walk away and, after taking the first steps, turned around to exclaim: “Raquel! If you change your mind… Cocktail bar, Gran Meliá!”

Raquel raised her eyebrows, nodding politely before looking at Sergio.

"Sorry, I would like to say that he isn’t always like this, but..." He apologized, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"It’s okay," Raquel smiled, thinking that little habit of his was one of the most adorable things she had ever seen.

Sergio frowned at her. "Did you want to say something?"

She watched him in silence for a moment, trying to understand what he was referring to. Then, she remembered that when she was about to kiss him, his name came out of her mouth uncontrollably. She pondered what she could say that would make him stay with her a little longer, but in her mind nothing was good enough to convince him to abandon his brother's celebration night.

"That it was a pleasure to meet you," Raquel replied, giving him a sincere smile.

"Likewise," he smiled back, but his expression seemed – _disappointed?_

"Have a good night, Sergio."

"You too," he replied, and she felt her gaze lock on his for an instant when neither of them could fill in the silence. Swallowing his saliva nervously, Sergio gulped the rest of the whiskey and put the glass back on the counter, starting to walk away.

Then, as if the whiskey that burned down his throat was some kind of liquid courage, Sergio turned to find her staring at her own glass.

"Raquel?"

"Yes?" She lifted her head to find an inviting look from Sergio towards her. She couldn't rationally understand it – how did just one look from him made her feel a wave of heat spread throughout her ribcage?

He smiled when her eyes met his own.

"If you decide to go to the party... I'll be happy to see you."

_As I age it sinks deeper in  
_ _This life is temporary, it's all gonna end  
_ _This is all gonna end  
_ _It's just a little love that I need  
_ _It's just a little love that I need  
_ _It's just a little love that I need  
_ _It's just a little love that I need_

_All these moments become memories  
_ _I don't wanna wake up one day thinking what did I miss  
_ _I fear my own fate_  
 _I don't wanna wake up one day thinking  
Where the hell have I been?_


	3. Noche de Acción

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my loves, here I am again ❤️
> 
> I hope you continue to enjoy the story, this night out still has a little more to give 😏
> 
> Can't wait to hear your thoughts :)
> 
> 🎵 This chapter’s playlist starts with “Electric Twist”, by A Fine Frenzy, and goes up to “If Only”, by Raveena and you can listen to it here: https://tiny.cc/FYIW 🎵

_You should be wilder, you're no fun at all  
_ _Yeah, thanks for the input  
_ _Thanks for the call_

 _With dull knives and white hands  
_ _The blood of a stone  
_ _Cold to the touch, right  
_ _Right down the bone_

Raquel couldn't help the smile that insisted on curving her lips, no matter how much she rolled her eyes or shook her head while looking for her friends at the club.

Flirting with someone always left her feeling a little ecstatic – that adrenaline rush in the pit of her stomach that resembled the moment when you’re on the highest part of a roller coaster and the cart stops facing down, making you stare at all the way through which you will plummet.

If her confidence was already in a good place with the professional recognition she had gotten earlier, seeing the way Sergio responded to her lingering looks, her touch and her laughter seemed to have put a permanent smile on her face.

Part of her wanted to discover every inch he hid beneath those neatly arranged and diagrammed outfits. She wanted to see how his gaze changed when he was in bed, how her name would come out of his mouth at the height of ecstasy. She wanted to know what he would be like when the two of them were inside four walls without anyone around. She wanted him to continue to gaze at her the way he was before they were interrupted. She liked the feeling of being wanted – and he certainly wanted her – but there was something about his eyes that made her feel different.

Raquel always felt a little tense and skeptical when she was with other men – and she had always assumed this characteristic was a mechanism of self-defense. She was always a practical woman. She liked to be direct and to the point, she was like that at work and throughout the rest of her life, especially in her relationships. To be honest, she had to admit that she did it because she didn't have the patience to spend time chatting with people she knew she wouldn't see again the next morning.

Sergio, however, was different. Not only from the other men she had sex with, but from everyone around her. Maybe it was the shy or thoughtful way, or the fact that talking to him was as natural as breathing.

She opened her eyes wide when that thought crossed her mind. _What the hell…?_

Luckily, she didn't need to dissect the observations that flooded her, because now she had finally found Alicia in the crowd, under the pulsating blue and pink lights, clearly flirting with a woman with short, bleached hair and a septum piercing. What Alicia couldn't notice – or possibly didn't care about – was the fact that the friend that seemed to be accompanying the woman looked extremely bothered about the whole situation, drinking out of her straw while her eyes flickered from one to the other.

"Good evening, excuse me," Raquel interrupted with a friendly smile, holding Alicia's hand on the table and turning to the women while lifting a shoulder, trying to be as friendly as possible. "Is it okay if I steal my friend real quick?"

Without even paying attention to the answers that followed, Raquel dragged Alicia through the nightclub, linking their arms as they walked away.

"What’s going on?" Alicia bent her head to eye her friend curiously. "The nerd’s a bad kisser?"

Raquel snorted, shaking her head. Alicia Sierra really was out of this world.

"He– We didn't kiss, okay?" She explained, raising her eyebrows. Alicia narrowed her eyes at her and Raquel rolled hers, showing her a smile soon after. “Howeeeever... his brother invited us to a party. At the Gran Meliá.”

"Whaaaat?!" The redhead dropped her jaw dramatically. "We were invited to a party in a fancy hotel?!"

"Do you think we should go?" Raquel asked, obviously waiting for her friend's encouragement. "Apparently the DJ who was playing here is going to play there and–"

Alicia slapped her friend lightly and turned her around to face her.

“ _Por Díos_ , Raquel, of course we are going!”

"Are you sure?" She asked one last time, suddenly nervous about getting to the party and their night possibly taking the wrong turn. "We can stay here and–"

"Raquel. We’ll go. It will be fun, I promise,” the redhead replied, seeming to read her friend's thoughts. "And that DJ is... _Muah_ ," Alicia put her joined fingers against her lips, imitating a chef's kiss and making an expression of delight. "Come on, if you don't want to do it for you, can we do it for me?"

Raquel tilted her head and smiled at her friend, who was making her best beggar face, almost like Shrek's Puss in Boots. "Vale... We're already here, aren't we?"

Alicia smiled and closed her eyes, satisfied with the positive response. Then she went back to her resting bitch face and looked around, surveying the place with her narrowed eyes.

"Okay, now… where's Món?"

"So, the last time I saw her, she was sucking face with a guy behind that pillar," Raquel pointed in the direction where she had last seen the blonde and Alicia looked at her in mocked shock.

"Our Mónica?" The redhead gasped and Raquel just nodded. "Vale! Come on, let’s… er, announce our departure?”

Alicia led the way, pulling Raquel by the hand, until they reached the pillar where Mónica was leaning her back against, lasciviously kissing a man in a black tank top. Raquel's eyes widened – in all these years they had known each other, she had never seen Mónica so... _entertained_.

She tried to get his attention with a clearing of her throat and a "Món?" too soft to be heard with that loud music.

"Mónica!" Alicia exclaimed, loud enough that three groups of people around her also turned their heads to look at her. Mónica and her companion broke the kiss, their eyes alternating between Alicia, who had raised her eyebrows at them, and Raquel, who tried to hold in her laugh with all her strength.

"Hi!" She breathed out, taking her hands from the boy's neck to his shoulders, slightly pushing him away from his body. "Hi, hi, hi," she smiled, using her index finger to wipe off any trace of lipstick that had smudged from her swollen lips. "How long have you been there?"

"Not for that long, thank goodness," Alicia scratched her temple with one of her pointy nails.

Raquel, on the other hand, smiled at Mónica's companion, interested in knowing who had captured her friend’s attention – and mouth.

"Hi," she said, arching her eyebrows.

"Hi," the man smiled at them both.

“Guys, this is Ricardo,” Mónica gestured at him, adjusting one of the straps on her dress.

"Daniel," he corrected her.

“ _Daniel._ Forgive me. I heard Ricardo,” the blonde amended, biting the inside of her cheek, clearly mortified at having mistaken her companion's name. "You know how it is, loud music and all."

"Yeah," he shook his head slightly and offered her a tender smile before turning to the other two women. "You can call me Dani."

“Dani, these are my friends, Raquel and Alicia,” Mónica introduced, pointing them out one by one.

"Call us Raquel and Alicia," Raquel teased, at which Mónica shot her a withering glare, but Dani let out a loud laugh, which was much like the sound of someone laughing against a fan or over a jackhammer. Raquel smiled broadly and looked at Monica, wishing she could read her mind right now.

"Oye, tía, we were invited to a party," Alicia shrugged and bit her bottom lip trying to contain her excitement.

Mónica frowned. "But... aren't we already at a party?"

"Not at a VIP party at the Gran Meliá," the redhead smirked.

"Wow," Dani exclaimed, placing a hand behind Mónica's head on the pillar to look at the three of them more comfortably.

"Where did this party come from?" Mónica asked, still confused.

"From the nerd that Raquel was flirting with," Alicia said, very fast and in too many codes for the blonde to understand.

Just as expected, the only sound that came out of her mouth was a confused "Huh?"

"From Sergio's brother," Raquel explained, in a sigh.

"Sergio...?" Món was trying to remember where she knew that name from. "Sergio as in… that guy we just met?"

“That’s the one,” Raquel bit her lip while Mónica eyed her curiously.

Alicia clapped her hands, trying to cheer up her friends. "What's the verdict? Are we going?"

"Let's go," Dani replied – to everyone's surprise – as he pulled away from the pillar. The three women looked at each other and Raquel shrugged, silently accepting his addition to the group.

Alicia looked at the woman who was propped up on the pillar. "Món?"

"Er, vale," she accepted. "Why not?"

Raquel smiled. At least she wouldn't be alone.

_But you give me the electric twist  
_ _And it kicks like kicks like a pony  
_ _And true, you might get away with it  
_ _It's a risk, it's a risk yeah_

 _  
__Picked from a hot grove, packaged for sale  
_ _It drips down the sleeve  
_ _Gets under your nails  
_ _A loss of the senses  
_ _A chip off a tooth  
_ _The smells of the city  
_ _They ride in your suit_

It was at times like this that Raquel deeply thanked Alicia and Mónica for their existence. There she was, sitting among her closest friends in a taxi, leaving one party for another on a Wednesday night simply because she had taken an interest in someone who would be there.

The atmosphere in the car was calm and relaxed, partly because any place with Alicia acquired a light and fun atmosphere, but also because Daniel was, in fact, a very good-natured addition to their night. He was sitting in the passenger seat, his body turned backwards for most of the ride, his hand resting affectionately on Mónica's knee as they chatted animatedly and, now or then, he let out that laugh that seemed characteristic of his personality – bulky and chaotic, in a good sense.

Raquel smiled when she noticed that Mónica, who initially seemed a little afraid to have him around in this new chapter of the night, seemed to be more and more comfortable with his presence, exchanging looks and knowing smiles with her companion. Great. Mónica deserved to be happy and have someone look at her exactly that way Dani was looking at her – and she definitely needed a fun night and a fun date after the hellish day she had at work.

"But how does someone accidentally take part in a robbery, Daniel?" Alicia narrowed her eyes at him while Mónica covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head, incredulous at the stories he shared.

"Well, when I was asked to drive the car to the convenience store I thought we were going to buy beers, some snacks, smoke a joint in the parking lot, you know?" He explained, gesturing with his hand that he wasn't on Monica's knee. “Our normal hangout. So I was in the car waiting and the guys left the store with Disney princesses masks holding a bag and got in the car telling me to drive fast.”

"Disney princesses masks?" Mónica repeated the information, frowning.

"Mulan, Jasmine and Pocahontas," Daniel replied matter-of-factly.

"Hm, the best of the original princesses, at least," Alicia conceded, shrugging it off.

"Okay, and then what?" Raquel asked, intrigued by the story. "What did you do?"

“What the fuck was I going to do? I drove fast, went home and pretended nothing had happened,” he opened his eyes wide. “I was 16, I was always hanging out with the wrong crowd… But I will always remember the male voice behind Mulan's mask shouting: push that fucking pedal down, motherfucker!”

His imitation, combined with his facial expression, made everyone in the car laugh – even the driver who was listening passively behind the wheel the entire time.

Within a few minutes, the car stopped on the sidewalk of the Gran Meliá hotel, opposite the Paseo de la Castellana. Salamanca was a noble neighborhood and in its great 19th century avenues were several designer stores and restaurants that Raquel had never even set foot in. The hotel's architecture was imposing, especially at night when the small spotlights were switched on from the bottom up, giving the white exterior walls a yellowish tone that resembled the façade of a palace.

The four walked together to the hotel lobby and could not avoid a dazzled look around when they entered the space. The floor and walls were all white marble, in the center of the lobby was a black, pink and gold marble mandala with a circular red velvet sofa. The dome-shaped ceiling was made entirely of blue glass with black and white details and a huge glass chandelier hung from the center.

There was a black grand piano in one corner and a small reception with a wooden bench on the other side, where Raquel finally walked towards, with her companions only a few steps behind her. She smiled pleasantly at the receptionist, who pointed her the way to the elevator after she inquired about the cocktail bar where there would be a party that night.

“I’ve never been to a place this classy before,” Daniel commented as soon as they entered the elevator and Raquel realized that his hand sought Mónica's unconsciously. She exchanged a complicit smile with the blonde.

"Well, the best thing to do in these places is to pretend you belong in them," said Alicia, retouching up her lipstick once more in the elevator mirror until the elevator doors opened again, revealing a white corridor that led them directly to the hotel bar.

Raquel didn't know exactly what she was expecting from this party – after all, she had just met the host – but even in her wildest dreams she would not have imagined that a night out in her customary club on a Wednesday would bring her _there_.

The bar had wooden walls, huge arched windows with blue curtains, as well as two huge wooden pillars that also sliced up the room – one marking the bar area and the other marking a kind of lounge, with dark gray suede sofas, colorful cushions and some round wooden tables.

The half-light left the whole space engulfed in mystery, but the atmosphere among the people was clearly a very intimate one. While Ulay's resident DJ led an improvised dance floor in an intuitively demarcated section of the room, where a group of people danced excitedly. In the lounge, Raquel was sure that she saw a group of five people kissing while others were sprawled on the carpet, laughing wildly, which made her believe that they were all possibly under the influence of some hallucinogen.

"I like it," Alicia declared, nodding her head as she scanned the room from side to side.

"Raqueeeel!" Andrés emerged from an inaccurate place to welcome her with a hug. He looked even more intoxicated than he was when she had met him just under an hour ago and his dilated pupils revealed that he, too, was under the influence of some psychotropic.

"Andrés, hello," she replied, awkwardly hugging him back, but as the seconds passed with his arms around her, she grew more and more impatient and moved away from him with some difficulty due to his grip.

"You know, I wasn’t sure if you were coming," he confessed, apparently still unaware of the fact that Raquel was accompanied by three other people. "But I still had some hope – I really didn't expect Sergio to meet someone in a nightclub, I mean, he is a very intelligent man, but completely ignorant when it comes to that kind of thing, much less with a woman so..."

Andrés' eyes roamed Raquel's body, making her clear her throat, drawing his attention back to her face, which received him with raised eyebrows and an expression that challenged him to complete that sentence.

"Bela," he shrugged, as if it was the only word that had crossed his mind. "I was going to say _bela_."

"Well, I appreciate the invitation, I hope you don't mind but I brought my friends," she gestured to the trio beside her and Andrés finally seemed to register the fact that she was not alone. “These are Alicia, Mónica and Daniel. This is Andrés, our host.”

Andrés raised his palm in Alicia's direction and the redhead gave Raquel an anguished look, as if she was asking 'are you kidding?', but her friend simply answered her with an encouraging look – they had been invited to the party by him, after all.

Alicia reluctantly put her hand on Andrés' palm, which he brought to his lips, placing a long kiss on the back of her hand.

"Enchanté, Alicia," he said, moving away from the redhead's impatient gaze to look down at her hand, running his thumb over the long, black glass nails that adorned the woman's hands. "Are these nails or weapons?"

Alicia put her hand away, flashing him a forced smile. "You don't want to find out."

Andrés hissed, letting an amused smile take over his face as he shook his head, looking at Raquel with an expression of approval as he pointed his index finger at the redhead. Raquel couldn't help a smile, even while rolling her eyes, because even though the man managed to be an idiot, there was something magnetic about his charisma. And she still didn't understand how he and Sergio could be brothers, but maybe that was exactly it – they both had an irrefutable charisma, although each in their own peculiar way.

“Mónica, it's nice to meet you,” he did the same with the blonde, kissing the back of her hand. "Daniel," he said, greeting him with a nod, but Dani raised his own hand with his back turned up between them.

"What? Don't I get a kiss?” Daniel mocked.

He didn't expect Andrés to take his face in his hands and give him two sloppy kisses, one on each cheek.

"Happy?" He asked, and for a moment Daniel was silent, his eyes wide.

Mónica looked at him, worried about how he would respond to that – depending on his reaction, her night could take a completely different turn.

To her relief, Daniel soon smiled and let out his characteristic laugh, which made Andrés smile too.

“Vale, vale,” Dani gave the man a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Come on, come on, the night is just beginning, please make yourselves at home," Andrés started walking backwards, gesturing grandly at the room. "And if you need anything special, look for Silene!"

Alicia turned her head to look at Raquel. “Does Silene have whatever he took? Seems good."

Raquel laughed. "Why don't we go to the bar before you go on to other drugs, Ali?"

The redhead snorted, annoyed, but they approached the black marble counter and, while her friends were choosing their drinks, Raquel looked around the room. If anyone asked her, she was just doing a spatial reconnaissance of the place, but she knew exactly what she was looking for there.

That’s when she saw his silhouette – she recognized his profile from a distance because of his glasses and the slightly curved shape of his shoulders, as if he wanted to make himself look smaller than he really was. He was standing in front of a glass door, covered by blue curtains that danced in the wind, and he was not far from the sound table from where DJ Nairobi controlled the music. Next to it, there was a white porcelain container that looked more like a bathtub, filled with ice and bottles of all colors and shapes.

That was where Sergio was looking at, alternating his gaze between the bottles and the people who danced and swirled around the lobby. And, seemingly having found the perfect moment, believing that no one was watching him, he crouched down as if to adjust his shoe and took a dark green bottle from the container, hiding it under his jacket and fleeing the party through the glass door.

Raquel laughed alone at the whole scene and, without saying anything to her friends, followed in the professor's footsteps. The glass door led her into a spacious terrace, with a beaten cement floor and huge red suede benches that stretched on both sides, surrounded by tall shrubs, and another bench that extended the width of the parapet and offered a magnificent view of the city.

Incredibly, the terrace was empty, apparently forgotten or unknown to those who enjoyed the party in the main lobby, hidden by the heavy blue curtains that covered the windows and the exit door.

"Stop right there!" Raquel exclaimed, causing Sergio to stop walking in the middle of the terrace, his back still turned to her, surprised by the interruption. "Hands up, you miscreant."

Sergio raised his hands to his shoulder height, still holding what appeared to be a bottle of prosecco in one hand, and turned slowly on his axis to look at her, his lips curved in a discreet smile.

"Miscreant?" He raised his eyebrows when he saw her take a few more steps towards him.

"Subtraction of someone else's property is a crime," Raquel shrugged, a smile dancing on her lips.

"I thought you were a journalist, not a police inspector," Sergio lowered his arms slowly, but his gaze remained locked on hers.

"Imagine the news story then," she teased, holding up her hands as if framing an imaginary sentence. "Postgrad professor caught during theft at a party in Salamanca."

Sergio laughed, taking a few steps towards her, stopping at a distance that now allowed him to see her face better, even with the lack of proper lighting on the terrace.

"Stealing from your own brother, too," she added, arching her eyebrows to tease him.

"Well, a crime as low as this, with no victims... should it really be considered a crime?" Sergio adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Mmmm," Raquel pondered his consideration. "If a tree falls in the middle of a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Sergio had spent all the time since he said goodbye to Raquel at the club until that moment she found him on the terrace thinking about her. It was ridiculous, he knew it, but invariably all his thoughts came back to her. He still couldn't believe that he had met a woman he could talk to so easily, who understood his sense of humor, who provoked him intellectually and who didn't seem impatient with his strange manners.

He broke into a smile and his eyes almost disappeared behind the lenses of his glasses. Raquel smiled back, infected by the dimples that appeared in his cheeks.

"You came," he said, almost in a whisper, and Raquel suspected that he hadn't even realized that the words had left his mouth.

"I didn't want to make you sad," she teased, putting a wild streak of hair behind her ear.

"Good," he replied, and the sincerity in his way of saying that one word took her by surprise.

Then he raised the bottle in his hand at her eye level.

"Will you accompany me to drink this stolen prosecco?"

"It would be my pleasure," she replied. He nodded in the direction of the red bench and the two walked slowly until they sat there.

He sat down first, his legs glued and feet parallel to the floor, as if he was a The Sims doll. Raquel smiled and sat next to him, with her open coat revealing her dress, one leg bent with an ankle under her other thigh, revealing more of her legs than she realized because she was distracted by the lights she could see from there.

Sergio glanced at her in that position, before looking back at the bottle, taking a deep breath. There was a silence between the two, but they didn't seem uncomfortable or in a hurry to interrupt it.

Still, when they heard cheers from inside the lobby, they exchanged looks followed by a shared laugh.

"Are all your brother's bachelor parties like this... extravagant?" Raquel asked, filling the silence.

“Andrés has a very… different lifestyle,” Sergio explained. "From mine, at least."

"From mine, too," she agreed. "Look, I'm 32 and I share an apartment with my friends."

"Well, in this economy, I think it's a smart decision," he said, making Raquel laugh. He was not wrong. "At least... they seem to be fun."

"They are the best," Raquel added, a warmth in her chest emerging at the mention of her friends.

"Can I... can I ask you–" Sergio hesitated, trying to choose his words carefully. "Not that I’m not happy but... why did you come?"

"Honestly?" She raised her eyebrows. He nodded and she let out a heavy breath before answering him. “I thought about going home but Alicia was thrilled by the idea – I think she has a crush on your DJ friend,” Raquel confessed, smiling. "And... if I’m to admit the truth..."

She paused, looking at him and realizing how much he longed for that answer. She bit her bottom lip, studying his expression silently.

"Por favor," he asked quietly, his voice barely audible with the sound of the music blasting.

Raquel smiled and shrugged. "I wanted to get to know you better."

"You? Wanted to get to know me?" He looked surprised. “Don't you think I have a… what was the expression you used? An illusion of control?"

The journalist laughed. Of course, he had to tease her after the way they met at Ulay.

"I do," she replied, nodding and smirking. "But I also find that a little charming," she added, in her best flirtatious tone, and it was worth it for the way his shoulders tensed quickly. "And I still think you are capable of having fun, if you allow yourself to."

"Vale," he accepted, offering her the bottle of prosecco. "Do you want to do the honors then?"

Raquel took the bottle from his hands, excited, and began to unscrew the wire seal. In a quick movement, the cork flew from the bottle, making a popping noise at the same time that icy smoke came out of it.

Sergio smiled at her until, suddenly, he widened his eyes, looking around him to confirm his fear.

"Sorry, I forgot to get a glass," he said, offering her a remorseful look.

Raquel rolled her eyes and shook her head, unconcerned, taking a sip straight from the bottle. He watched her in silence and she offered him a smile when she returned the bottle to him with an encouraging nod.

Soon, Sergio turned the bottle in his mouth while she alternated her gaze between him and the environment that surrounded them.

"So, Sergio..." She dragged the last vowel, as if she was inviting him to fill the gap.

"Marquina," he adjusted his glasses on his face and passed the bottle back to her.

"Sergio Marquina," she repeated, satisfied. "Where are you from?"

"Bilbao," he replied.

"Really? I'm from San Sebastián,” Raquel smiled.

“But I spent most of my childhood and my adolescence in Pamplona.”

"Pamplona, huh?" She slid her finger across the bottle while looking at him. "So you must have been a frequent San Firmino attendee."

"Not so much..." He replied, watching her take another drink. "I... couldn't go out much when I was younger," he explained briefly. His childhood was not exactly a pleasant topic of conversation. “I only went to the San Firmino party once and moved to Madrid shortly after,” he continued. "How about you?"

"I came to Madrid when I was 14," the journalist replied, returning the bottle to him. "My mom got a job here."

"What does your mother do?" Sergio asked before drinking from the bottle.

“She was a teacher, like you, before she retired. But she taught kindergarten,” she explained.

"Oh," he unconsciously licked his lips and Raquel had to concentrate with all her might to pay attention to what he was saying. "Well, sometimes my students make me feel like I'm teaching kindergarten too," he joked.

She burst out laughing. "I imagine you as a very serious teacher."

"Why do you say that?" He frowned, handing her the prosecco. Raquel reacted with an expression of obviousness and he laughed. "Okay, you're right."

She remembered an information shared with her at the nightclub by Andrés. "How did you guys meet the DJ?"

"Ágata?"

"Is that her name?"

Sergio smiled. "Did you think it was Nairobi?"

"It kind of suits her," Raquel shrugged.

"We went to college together," the professor replied. “But she wanted her work to be fun and profitable and… I think she did it. She seems happy about it.”

"Yes," she agreed. "And she is very good at what she does."

"Are you?" Sergio asked, only paying attention to the double meaning of his question when Raquel raised her eyebrows. "I mean... are you happy with your work?"

She broke into a smile.

"I love my job," she said. "And modesty aside, I think I'm very good at what I do too."

Despite her excitement, her face seemed to take on a more serious expression.

"Although sometimes... even in an environment considered as progressive as an independent news agency, it is pretty bad to be surrounded by men," she admitted.

"I can't say that I know how it is but..." He adjusted the glasses on his face once again, uncomfortable to think about what she probably suffered on a daily basis. Raquel offered him a smile when she realized he seemed uncomfortable. "I imagine it is not nice at all."

"At least I have Alicia with me," she stated. "We also met in college."

"Sorry, you said you work at a news agency..."

“Faro Es,” the journalist replied. "Are you familiar with it?"

"Claro," he said, excited. "I... I'm one of the subscribers."

"Wow," she exclaimed, excited. "You are one of our ten thousand three hundred and forty-seven supporters," she replied, and he smiled when he realized that she knew the number of subscribers to the collaborative campaign by heart. "Thank you for paying part of my salary."

She took the bottle from his hand and drank a large gulp.

"You’re Raquel Murillo," he concluded, looking at her with a smile on his face.

“I've never been recognized before but yes,” Raquel shrugged, proud and shy in equal parts. "I am."

"Sorry, I'm a little stunned," he replied, shaking his head with difficulties in reconciling the woman in front of him with one of the professionals he most admired in independent journalism. "You are... extremely talented."

"No need to overdo it just to make me happy," she laughed, taking another sip of the prosecco.

"No, I mean it," he assured, taking the bottle she offered him from her hands. "You’re like Spain’s own Carmen Aristegui."

"Thank you," she smiled, embarrassed, and she tried to think of something she could say to change the subject as she was already turning red with his compliments. “You know, Carmen is one of my biggest inspirations. I can only hope to do what she does in Mexico here.”

"Well, I would say you are most certainly on the same path," he conceded.

She gently pushed his left shoulder. "Stop, Sergio..."

"I'm not just saying that to flatter you, I swear," he assured, raising his palm solemnly. "I... I use your story on tax inspection of large companies in one of my classes."

"Are you kidding?" She shook her head, watching him drink from the bottle in disbelief.

He ingested the drink as quickly as possible to answer her. "I'm not."

Raquel continued to look at him, skeptical, before offering him a smile. "So… does this mean I have a fan?"

"I'm certainly not the only one," he said.

"True, there’s also my mother," Raquel agreed, gesturing with her hand.

"Well, then we can start a fan club," the professor replied, smiling.

Raquel laughed. At that moment, she was unable to verbalize the thought but the words still crossed her mind nonetheless – _I'm glad I'm here._

_He says don't think, don't talk  
_ _Don't think  
_ _Don't think, don't talk  
_ _Don't think  
_ _Don't think, don't talk  
_ _But I don't think I want to_

 _And the touch of your lips  
_ _It's a shock not a kiss  
_ _It's electric twist, it's electric twist_

Sergio couldn't say exactly for how long they stayed out there on that terrace, just talking. He knew they had enough time to finish the bottle of prosecco, knew that he was already feeling his head light from how much he had already drunk and knew that he would stay there with her the rest of the night if she wanted to.

They had fallen into a comfortable silence after she finished a story about the time she had to pay Alicia's bail when she was arrested for contempt of authority, amidst laughter and complicit looks. At that moment, she was looking again at the city lights, dazzled by how small everything looked up there.

She heard Sergio let out a small laugh and turned her face to him. She smiled when she saw that his gaze was fixed on her, his eyelids drooping slightly from the effect of alcohol and his smile a little more relaxed than it had been earlier that evening.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing," he shook his head, glancing at the red fabric on the bench before turning back to her. "It's just... it's very easy to talk to you," he admitted. "I don't usually find it easy to talk to people I just met."

"I can say the same about you," she replied, tilting her head and offering him an affectionate look.

"Actually, I don't find it easy to talk to anyone," Sergio continued, his voice an eighth lower, as if he was trying so hard to get those words out of his throat. "You are an exception."

Raquel's smile slowly faded from her face and she felt her breathing become increasingly heavier with each passing second. She wasn't expecting him to say that and she didn’t count on the fact the words were said with such genuineness – and she definitely wasn’t expecting him to look at her _like that._

She adjusted herself on the bench, approaching him slowly, and realized that he swallowed dry, watching her every move.

Raquel looked at his lips, parting hers as if asking him for a silent permission, before meeting his eyes again. Closing her eyelids, she pressed her lips against his and the first thing she noticed was the contrast between the roughness of his beard and the softness of his lips.

She brought her hand to the side of Sergio's face, moving away from him to try and read his expression – he looked at her with affectionate precision, as if she were the only thing he could see. Raquel took a deep breath, feeling the breeze spread his woody scent all around her. She stroked his cheek with her thumb, and when he closed his eyes at her touch, she brought her lips against his once again.

This time, she gave him a series of slow kisses, recognizing his lips little by little, feeling the taste of prosecco that he exhaled, until she slid the tip of her tongue over his lower lip, asking for passage. Sergio, as if he finally realized what was going on and awoke from a trance, opened his mouth as he slid his hands around her waist, spreading one of them on her lower back and pulling her close.

She deepened the kiss, her tongue meeting his halfway, both of them dancing together in a fit so natural that Raquel felt like she had spent her entire life kissing only to train for that moment. She felt one of his hands slide up her back, reaching the base of her neck, his fingers running through her hair and bringing her even closer, as if all he wanted was for the two of them to merge into one.

Still kissing him, Raquel placed one of her legs between both of his and as soon as Sergio felt it there, he brought the hand that was on her lower back to her exposed leg, dragging his fingertips from her knee to the top of her thigh, where the hem of her dress ended. She responded by pressing her body against his, her fingers buried in the thick strands of his hair, tilting her head to kiss him even more intensely.

When they finally needed to separate to catch their breath, Sergio opened his eyes slowly and couldn't believe the vision in front of him – the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life looked at him with a mixture of affection and surprise, her swollen lips parted gradually framing a smile, and one of her hands still caressed his face.

"If I had known that you were so good at this, I would have done it a long time ago," she laughed, playing with his beard, and Sergio felt himself blush with shyness. No one had ever told him that before, but he had never wanted to kiss another woman as much as he wanted to kiss her.

He realized that his hand was still resting on her thigh and, taking a brief look at the journalist's perfectly sun kissed legs, he took advantage of the contact to start drawing imaginary shapes on her skin with his fingertips, causing Raquel to slightly crane her neck.

He looked up to gaze at her again, and this time, he was the one who took the initiative to kiss her, meeting her lips in a hypnotic daze. Sergio had always been a man eager for knowledge and, at that moment, there was nothing in the world that he wished to know better than Raquel Murillo.

He learned that she liked kisses that started out slow and gentle, and that climbed in intensity as they groped their bodies with their hands, recognizing each part of each other's territory. He discovered that she liked it when he ended a kiss by lightly biting her lower lip, that she gasped when his kisses trailed down her jaw and neck and that by kissing her earlobe and letting out a warm breath just below her ear, she would drag her nails over the back of his neck as if she was quietly asking for more.

It had been a long time since Raquel had been aroused by just a sequence of kisses, but Sergio seemed to understand her every move and listen to every single one of her body’s reactions, as if he were cataloging all this information to apply it in the following second. She could feel her panties getting more and more damp and he still seemed so far from touching her there – it was the best torture session there was, anticipating his touch there while she felt absurd pleasure with everything else he was doing to her.

Raquel had no idea how much time they spent kissing, mixing their breaths and messing up their hairs while they felt that cool August breeze in their warm skins.

They only moved away from each other when they heard people cheering from inside the bar and heard the glass door that led to the terrace opening – suddenly, it seemed that the dozens of people who were at the party discovered that hiding place, following in the footsteps of Martín, who ran around the terrace wearing only his underwear and a tie around his head as if it were a crown while the people around him apparently celebrated his performance.

Sergio and Raquel looked at each other quickly before bursting out laughing – the whole scene looked like it had come out of a Jodorowsky movie.

Alicia, who was beside Ágata, a little further away from the group of people but who was watching the whole situation with a smile on her face, spotted her friend from a distance and raised an arm, pointing her index finger in her direction and dragging the brunette by the hand towards her friend, who seemed lost in the bubble she had created with the professor, laughing out loud.

 _"You!"_ Alicia exclaimed, drawing the attention of her friend, who looked at her with an expression of someone who had been caught red-handed.

Sergio felt his face go red and adjusted his glasses on his face in his awkward way, looking at the redhead and the brunette who were now standing in front of him. Raquel didn't seem to mind the fact that her legs were on top of his left leg, or that her arm that was still around his shoulders, and she just looked at her friend, realizing that her face was now adorned with colorful glitter and her pupils were more dilated than the last time he saw her. She had certainly found Silene in the meantime and took whatever Andrés had taken.

"Sergio, we thought you had escaped," Ágata commented, raising her eyebrows, surprised to see him as comfortable as he could be in that situation. "I see you just found yourself a wonderful company."

"Sí, gracias," Raquel replied, grateful for the compliment. "You are Ágata, right?"

"Yes," the brunette smiled, her eyes lighting up instantly. "You must be Raquel, Alicia has already told me so much about you."

"Hey, not so much," the redhead frowned, crossing her arms in front of her.

"She's obsessed with me," Raquel rolled her eyes playfully and Ágata chuckled. "And Món?"

"With Ricard– damn it, _DANIEL_ , I keep saying it wrong – somewhere, they got involved in a tequila shot competition with Silene and a guy named Marseille?" Alicia looked at the DJ, seeking confirmation that she had indeed repeated the correct name of the man who appeared to be mute.

"I see the party is really fun," Raquel waved to Martín, who now entertained the guests with what appeared to be an original song called 'boom boom ciao'.

Andrés, who was in the first row of the people surrounding the Argentine, was shaking his head and clapping, a wide smile on his face, excited and apparently even more intoxicated than he was earlier.

"You would know," Alicia teased, raising her eyebrows.

"Matter of fact," Raquel replied, without even giving into the redhead's provocation. "We were just going to get a drink, weren't we, Sergio?"

"We were?" Sergio looked at her, frowning in confusion, until he saw her eyes widen as if she was giving him a sign. "Ah, yes, it’s true."

"Excuse us," she said, rising from the bench under her friend's proud gaze, pulling Sergio by the hand as they crossed their way from the terrace back to the bar. She looked around, apparently looking for something in the dark lobby, still holding hands with him.

Sergio had no idea what she was looking for but at this point he would accompany her wherever she wanted. She finally seemed to find what she was looking for and kept walking to the bathroom, pulling him inside and pushing him with his back against the door.

"Now," Raquel studied his face intently, her brown eyes hungry. She stretched out her arm, turning the door key to lock it, and then sliding her hand through the fabric of the dress shirt he wore. "Where were we?"

He didn't even have time to process the question, because in the next instant Raquel was already kissing him again and taking off his jacket from his shoulders, then throwing it on the bathroom floor. Sergio also took the opportunity to remove the coat she wore, throwing it on the marble floor next to his, and then sliding his arms around her waist, pulling her against him and kissing her fervently.

She lifted one leg around his waist, resting her knee against the wooden door and increasing the friction between them and feeling his erection pulse against her entrance. The professor spread a hand on her ass, supporting her bent leg against his body and taking a few unsteady steps to the counter.

Raquel lost her voice when he pulled away from her lips to leave a trail of moist kisses on her neck, then lifted her up in his arms and placed her sitting on the marble counter. With her dress already up to her waist, she felt the coolness of the marble against her skin, but she couldn't focus on anything but the way his lips trailed down her lap or how his big hands played with her nipples over the fabric of her dress.

She lightly pulled the strands of his hair, directing his face back to hers and giving him a deep kiss. The journalist moaned against his lips when she felt one of his hands venture between her legs. Sergio ran his finger over the fabric of her panties and smiled when he felt how wet she was – smiled when he thought that all of that was a reaction to his kisses, to his touches, to his caresses, _to him_.

Another moan escaped Raquel's mouth when the professor’s touch went from delicate contact to firm pressure.

"Sergio," she murmured, her nails pressing against his back.

A groan came out of her mouth as his kisses went back down Raquel's neck and soon his fingers tangled around the thin straps of the panties she wore, sliding it down her legs as he, too, lowered himself to his knees in front of her.

She looked at him kneeling between her legs, letting her panties fall to the floor before taking off his glasses and placing them on the sink counter. The journalist looked at him with anticipation, she could feel her already shallow breathing falter as he pressed his lips and brushed his beard against the side of her calf.

Raquel closed her eyes, pushing herself to the edge of the sink and arching her back in pleasure as he moved up her legs, alternating between her left and right until he reached her thighs and slowly approached her center, kissing and rubbing his beard against her skin.

She gasped when she felt Sergio's tongue finally slide between her slit, slowly, teasing her. She held the rim of the sink with both hands, trying to keep her balance, but felt her back arch when he ran his tongue again between her folds, this time more deeply, until it reached her clitoris.

Sergio devoted his time there, alternating between moving his tongue in different directions and sucking at varying intensities – just as he did with their kisses, he wanted to find out exactly what she liked, how she liked it, at what pace. Watching her dissolve with pleasure under his mouth was too exciting a prospect. It was far too good to be tasting her as she moaned and murmured his name.

When he heard Raquel's breath become more and more unsteady, Sergio inserted a finger inside her, bending it to stimulate the sensitive spot there. She unconsciously moved her hips while Sergio continued to suck on her clit and when she squeezed his shoulder with one hand, he inserted one more finger.

 _"Joder, joder, joder..."_ She hissed, almost like a mantra, her eyes going white from pleasure.

Careful to press his thumb against her clit in a circular motion, he pulled his mouth away from her center just to look at her and quickly realized that this was a moment that never crossed his mind when he arrived at that nightclub, but there was no nowhere else he would like to be, there was nothing else he would rather be doing.

He used the back of his free hand to dry his lips from her essence and, rising to his feet, suddenly confident at the sight of Raquel surrendered to his movements, he pulled back her hair, making space for him to start kissing her neck.

She moaned louder, throwing an arm around his shoulders and pulling his body against her, moving her hips at the same time as he stimulated her rhythmically. She felt a chill in the pit of her stomach and her legs quivered, a prelude to the climax that was getting closer and closer.

Sergio also noticed that, because he continued the movements at the same speed and at the same pace, trailing his kisses to a particular spot in her neck, just below her ear, where she seemed to have felt dwelled in pleasure earlier, and gave it a gentle nibble before kissing the spot.

"Sergio, I'm going to–” She stammered, biting her lip to prevent a scream.

Before she could finish the sentence, the orgasm absorbed her like a wave, sinking her into an infinite void where all she could do was gasp, her breathing shallow, her eyes closed.

The professor continued to leave a trail of kisses on her neck and jaw, gradually slowing down his movements, until she managed to open her eyes, casting a fiery glance at him.

Raquel watched the details of that man's face as she recovered her breath – the brown irises, the birth marks on his forehead and cheeks, the lines of expression on his face. He was clearly studying her body and her reactions to his movements and she was determined to do the same.

She pulled him in for a lascivious kiss, her hands caressing the back of his neck and his chest, still covered in that damn dress shirt, and she had started to loosen his tie when they heard a knock on the door.

Sergio broke the kiss, against their will, watching her as they both breathed shallowly. The journalist shook her head, resistant to the idea of not being able to finish everything she wanted with him, and pulled him for another kiss in an attempt to distract him from the exterior noises.

It wasn't long before the sound of knocking on the door came back and Sergio took a deep breath, pulling away again – he couldn't ignore that.

"Raquel–"

"Just ignore it and they're going to give up," she mumbled, reaching out to remove the belt he wore around his pants.

"Okay," he murmured against her lips, completely giving in to whatever she wanted from him.

"Hey!!! Someone is sick out here!!!” A familiar voice echoed through the wooden door.

Sergio and Raquel froze, looking at each other in silence.

The journalist frowned. "Alicia?"

"Raquel?" The redhead replied. "Open the door, please!"

“Wait, wait,” Raquel rolled her eyes, offering Sergio a wistful look before jumping off the sink counter and picking up her coat from the floor, placing it over her dress and finding her panties on the corner of the bathroom to put them back on.

The professor, in turn, put his jacket and glasses back on and tried to look presentable as quickly as possible, while also concentrating on making his erection disappear.

She looked at Sergio, as if asking if it was okay to open the door, and he nodded. Raquel unlocked the door and opened it, surprised to see that not only Alicia was out there, but also Mónica, whose face had an almost greenish color.

"Well, well, well... Who would’ve known, huh?" The redhead alternated her gaze between her friend and the professor. She was surprised at the speed of events, not because of her friend, but because of this man who, at first glance, did _not_ seem to be the type to have sex in the bathroom of a party. "Sorry but–"

Raquel interrupted her friend, realizing that the blonde beside her had a very unnerving expression on her face. “Mónica, what…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Mónica ran past her, opening the toilet’s lid, kneeling in front of it and releasing all the vomit that she seemed to be keeping inside.

Sergio avoided looking directly at the scene, but at least that helped to make his excitement disappear completely.

"Món..." Raquel crouched down beside her friend, holding her curls back with one hand and stroking her back with the other. "It's okay, you can let it out."

"I... I think it's best to leave you guys alone," Sergio said, walking away from the two, completely embarrassed.

Mónica finished pucking everything she had drunk while Raquel held her hair and Alicia wet a towel to put on the blonde's forehead.

"I'm sorry I interrupted you," Mónica said, dramatically pouting to show Raquel how sad she felt. "Alicia said it wasn’t elegant to throw up in the ice bucket."

"Well, she's right," Raquel replied, holding back a laugh.

"See? I said she would understand,” the redhead shrugged, resting the wet towel against her friend's forehead.

When they heard someone knocking on the door, the three of them shouted in unison: "OCCUPIED!"

They were surprised when, despite their collective scream, a male voice on the other side insisted.

"Water?" They asked, almost inaudibly, and Raquel stood up, quickly recognizing the voice as Sergio's voice. She opened the door and, sure enough, there he was holding a bottle of water in his hand.

"Sorry... I... thought she was going to need some water," he explained, offering Raquel the bottle.

"Thank you, Sergio," Raquel smiled, genuinely grateful that he was concerned for her friend. She took the bottle and passed it to the blonde, who was now sitting on the floor while she took a deep breath.

The professor adjusted his glasses, nervous. "Do you need anything else?"

"If you can stop more people from knocking until we’re finished here, that would be great," the journalist asked, placing a hand on his forearm and caressing it lightly.

"Yes, of course," the man nodded, preparing to leave.

"Sergio?" Alicia called him, making both Raquel and the professor turn their attention to her. “You’ve got some lipstick here,” she pointed at her chin and Sergio, worried, started rubbing his fingers against the area.

"Alicia!" Raquel scolded her friend, holding back her laugh and turning to Sergio again. "She was kidding."

“Ah. Good one,” he offered her an embarrassed smile before turning around and Raquel looked at the redhead, rolling her eyes.

"My God, you are ridiculous!" She exclaimed, but the three of them burst out laughing nonetheless.

After a few minutes, Mónica managed to recover. She washed her face, gargled with a little mouthwash the hotel had in a basket sitting in the corner of the sink and drank all the water from the bottle that Sergio brought her.

Mónica thanked Sergio as they left the bathroom, Alicia holding her by her waist, and Raquel walking slowly behind them, waiting for him to follow her footsteps. They watched her friends in silence, just enjoying each other's proximity.

"Ric– Daniel!" Alicia exclaimed, drawing the attention of the man who was talking to Ágata and Martín. "Help here, please."

"Hey, Món," he said, approaching the blonde and wrapping an arm around her waist. "Are you feeling better? What do you say we sit for a while? Do you want to get some fresh air on the terrace?”

"Yes, fresh air will be good for you," the redhead replied, waving to them and taking her phone out of her bag. "I'm going to call an Uber."

Alicia walked away and Raquel looked at Sergio with a small smile on her face.

"How is she?" The professor asked, worried, his hands in his pants’ pockets.

"Still feeling sick, but a lot better," she replied. Then she looked down to the floor before turning back to him. "We’re going to take her home."

Sergio tried to hide his disappointment and nodded. "Of course."

"Too bad we were interrupted," she said, adjusting his tie with both hands.

"I... I agree," he replied, swallowing hard.

"Who knows, maybe I'll run into you at a library some other day?" Raquel winked at him, smiling as she slowly walked away. "Good night, Sergio."

"Good night, Raquel," he replied, watching her walk over to where her friends were, but the idea that his night would end without her made his heart skip a beat.

Perhaps it was alcohol speaking, because Sergio did not recognize himself at that moment, but on an impulse he propelled himself forward and held her wrist gently, preventing her from continuing to take her steps.

"Raquel, wait!" He stammered, catching up with her while she gave him a confused look.

Sergio seemed to watch the scene as if he was out of his own body – he slid a small object into her hand and whispered a few words in her ear before leaving a chaste kiss on her cheek. Raquel felt a shiver run down her spine and, before she could even think of answering him, he walked away with a smile and a slight nod.

At least this time – when he left her alone for the _third_ time that night – there was something more in her hands than the cold sweat that overflowed her palms.

_'Cause you give me the electric twist  
_ _And it kicks and it kicks yeah  
_ _And true, let ya get away with it,  
_ _It's a risk it's a risk yeah_

_You might get away with it  
_ _It's a risk yeah_  
 _But it kicks yeah  
It really kicks yeah_


	4. Me Pega Fuerte

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, queridas ❤️
> 
> Finally managed to translate chapter 4, so I'll leave you to it and hopefully you can tell me what you think about it after you've read it 🥰
> 
> 🎵 This chapter’s playlist starts with “Kinfolk”, by Mereba, and goes up to “I'm on Fire”, by Soccer Mommy and you can listen to it here: https://tiny.cc/FYIW 🎵

_We don't need our words  
_ _When we're kissing, when we're making love  
_ _No, we don't need our words  
_ _Don't need the word, we don't need the word because_

 _Girl, I could drive all night  
_ _Just to get to where you are  
_ _Yeah, I could drive all night  
_ _Just to be in my car_

"Come on, Món," Raquel grunted, helping her friend into the back seat of the car. Alicia pulled Mónica’s arm on the other side of the seat, strapping the blonde on and comfortably accommodating her.

"There you go," the redhead said, at the same time that she saw Raquel trying to get into the car. "Uh, Raquel, where do you think you're going?"

Raquel frowned at her friend, confused. "Hmm, we live together?"

She tried to get on the vehicle again, but Alicia raised her palm to her and shrugged, as if that wasn't reason enough to convince her.

"But why do you think you're going to get in this car?" She asked.

"Er, just give them a minute to sort it out, por favor," Daniel, sitting in the passenger seat, quietly asked the driver.

“What the fuck, Alicia? I'm going home with you, let me through,” Raquel's eyes widened, already irritated by her friend's insistence. There were a number of other things she preferred to be doing at the moment and not one of them involved arguing with her friend.

"No," the redhead shook her head vehemently. "Absolutely not."

"Ali, look at Món," Raquel pointed to the blonde, who was already with her eyes closed, having no idea of the conflict that was literally taking place in front of her. "There's no way you can go up the stairs with her on your own."

"Daniel is going to help me, aren’t you, dear?" Alicia snaked the tips of her fingers on Daniel's shoulder and he shook his head positively. "Then the driver takes him home."

"Of course, I would never leave you in any trouble," the man assured them, casting a confident expression in his eyes to assure Raquel that he was reasonably sober. Or at least reasonably less drunk than Mónica, which wasn't that difficult.

"See? We’re all right, you don't have to worry about us,” Alicia dismissed her friend, making a gesture with her hand to shoo her away.

"How about you?" Raquel raised an eyebrow, still not entirely convinced. "You are under the influence of who knows what?"

"I'm fine, I just dabbed my finger in the MD bag," Alicia rolled her eyes. "You know I need bigger doses than that to get going..."

"But I–"

"Quel, enjoy your night, please, and go get yourself a good fuck," the redhead interrupted.

Although Daniel cleared his throat in the passenger seat, probably calling attention to the fact that the driver was there listening to everything, she simply rolled her eyes, holding one of Raquel's hands.

Alicia pushed her friend slightly, closing the door and opening the window to say, with a wink: "You deserve to celebrate today!"

_I don't need a reason  
_ _I don't need the right  
_ _All I need is your warm little body  
_ _Holding me tonight_

Raquel watched the car drive away and couldn't help smiling. She looked down at one of her hands, where she still held the small plastic card in her palm as if it were a gem, the numbers “506” in bold in the bottom corner, and stared at it for a moment, unable to believe that all of this was really happening.

She could still hear Sergio's voice reverberating in her ear: _"If you want to come back after taking Mónica home... I'll be here."_

She bit her lower lip, trying to hide the smile that insisted in appearing there. To no avail, she resigned herself to taking a deep breath and turned around, entering again through the hotel door she had just left through. She nodded to the security guard and, once inside, continued walking straight up to the elevator.

Inside the cabin, after pressing the button that would take her to the fifth floor, Raquel felt like she was sweating cold. She stripped off the coat that she was still wearing and tried to take a few deep breaths as the elevator made its usual way across the floors, although for her it felt as if it were moving in slow motion. It was one thing to be in the heat of the moment and drag Sergio into the bathroom, another thing to knock on the door of his hotel room and hope that not only he had already returned from the party or that he was not asleep.

When the doors opened, Raquel thought to herself that there was no reason to be nervous. It was just another night of casual sex. She had done this dozens of times. She looked at the sign to find where the even numbered rooms were located and then moved to the right side, as indicated.

She didn't even have time to reach the first door in the hallway because Sergio was the first thing she saw, a few doors down, going through his pockets and jacket with his hands, looking for something. He let out a low growl of frustration and turned toward her, as if he were ready to go somewhere else.

As soon as he saw her, his expression completely changed and he froze, his feet suddenly trapped on the floor. She didn't know what was more adorable – the way his eyebrows went up in surprise, framing his wide eyes, or the smile that appeared on his face when he saw her standing there in that corridor.

"Hi," he greeted her, approaching her with his hands still in his pockets, slightly embarrassed.

"Hi," she smiled back.

“You were… quick. Is everything all right?"

"Yes, it's just... apparently I was released from my companion service," she shrugged and then remembered that he was initially heading towards the elevator for some reason other than her. "Sorry, are you going somewhere?"

"I..." He closed his eyes for a second, shaking his head slightly before opening them again. "God, you're going to think I'm an idiot," he adjusted the glasses on his nose with his thumb and forefinger and swallowed hard before continuing. "I didn't think very well before I gave you the room key–"

"Sorry?" Raquel frowned, already suspicious of the turn this conversation was taking.

"–no! I didn’t mean it like that, it's just...” Sergio let out a heavy breath. He needed to explain this as soon as possible so she didn't jump to a wrong conclusion about his poor choice of words. “I thought I had an extra key and… I must have left it on the counter when I left my bag earlier. I was going to the reception to get another key.”

Raquel looked at him in disbelief. "You locked yourself out of the room."

He felt his shoulders tensing under her gaze. Unconsciously, he looked around, unable to look into her eyes, as if the wallpaper patterned on the walls of the corridor had an answer for him.

Finally, he just looked back at her and muttered an awkward "yes".

"Because you gave me your only key," she raised her eyebrows, enunciating each word slowly, trying to make sure she understood the situation correctly.

"Well... yeah," he replied.

She pressed her lips into a thin line and, in her defense, she did her best to keep from laughing, but Sergio could see the amusement in her eyes and the corners of her mouth curling upwards uncontrollably. He internally thanked the fact that she seemed to be trying really hard not to laugh, but, if he could, he would have already sunk into a hole.

"I said you would think I was an idiot, now excuse me for a moment, I'll just go jump out of that window," he announced, turning on his back and starting to walk down the hall.

“Sergio, come back here,” she said, laughing, and walked over to him, holding him by the arm to keep him from moving further.

He stopped walking, turning slowly to look at her eyes as he shook his head. "Sorry, I don't usually do these things and–"

Before Sergio could complete his sentence – and he had already worked out a whole self-commiserating joke in his mind – she rested her hands on his shoulders and stood on her tiptoes to press her lips against his, giving him a tender kiss, one she hoped would ease the excessive worries of the man in front of her.

At least, her initial intention had been just to gently press her lips against his, her free hand around the professor's nape, pulling him against her. However, seconds later, feeling his hands slide down her waist and lower back and further reducing the space between them, the next thing she noticed was that the kiss had intensified and their tongues were dancing around one another, as if not it was possible for them to separate before giving themselves over to that moment.

When they finally had to pull away to catch their breath, Sergio seemed to have completely forgotten what he was talking about. He was looking at Raquel with an unclouded, but accurate gaze, as if his eyes were two headlights that were directed only at her and everything around her seemed cloudy and dark.

The journalist felt her heart beat a little faster than normal, her breathing still faltering as she tried to decipher the way he was looking at her. Still uncertain, she broke into a smile and pressed a gentle peck on the professor's swollen lips, letting her hand slide from the back of his neck to the front of his chest and returning her heels to the floor. The fact that even in high heels she needed to sneak up his length until she reached the level of his lips made him smile, which only made the swirl in his stomach grow.

_Until we meet again  
_ _Under some street light in some foreign town  
_ _And then you'll take my hand  
_ _And look at me as if to say, "Are you still down?"_

"May I do the honors?" Raquel asked, lifting his room card at his eye level, her free hand still playing with the lapels of Sergio's jacket.

He blushed at the question, squeezing her waist with one hand.

"Por favor...", mumbled the professor, swallowing hard as he watched her walk to his bedroom door. She shot him an inviting look over her shoulder, waiting for him to approach before she took the card to the electromagnetic lock.

The door clicked open and Raquel pushed it immediately, curious to find out what was inside. She looked up at Sergio, seeking his permission again to enter his room, and he nodded, a shy smile appearing on his face.

She didn't know exactly what she expected from the room's decor as she passed the small hallway that preceded the room, but she tried to absorb all the details as Sergio pushed one of the switch buttons, turning on a yellow half light that lit up enough for her to inspect the space, but not too much for it to become intrusive. At the end of the small corridor, Raquel noticed there was a long black dresser where Sergio had rested his brown leather briefcase, just below the television hanging from a wooden module that covered the entire wall.

Near the corridor was the bathroom, surrounded by glass walls, where there was a large round mirror and a white bathtub that looked extremely inviting.

The bed was spacious – and Raquel actually counted six white pillows –, covered with an immaculate white sheet and a cream bedspread that seemed to be made of the softest material that existed on the face of the earth. It would be a beautiful room, if it wasn’t for the giant painting on the bed of a monarch sitting pompously in her fine garb and a serious and judgmental countenance.

"I thought you lived in Madrid," she said, filling the silence and frowning at Sergio.

"Pues si," he nodded. "I do."

"Then why are we here?" She made an amused expression, pointing to the room. "Tired of your home?"

Sergio smiled.

"Apparently Martín is a friend of one of the hotel's owners," he explained, moving his feet against the carpet. “He closed a package for Andrés' party at the bar and… we got some rooms with tonight's rate as a courtesy.”

"Oh," she nodded, noticing how he looked like a fish out of the aquarium in that environment, with a shy smile every time her gaze met his.

"I was always curious about these rooms," Raquel confessed, biting her lower lip as she looked around.

"Seriously?" He asked, hands tucked into his pockets, watching her move through the space intently.

"Oh, are you going to say you weren't?" She shrugged, noting the intricate details in the white plaster ceiling. "This place is absurd from the outside..."

"Yes, the architecture is really amazing," Sergio conceded, arching his eyebrows and adjusting his glasses with his fingertips. "But I think I prefer my apartment."

"Me too?!" She replied, trying to use a more flexible intonation to demonstrate that, despite her agreement, she was quite happy to be there. With him.

Sergio smiled, his gaze falling towards the carpet once again. Raquel was still absorbing all the information in the room and her gaze returned to the woman's royal painting above the bed. That painting seemed to belong to some permanent exhibition at the National Art Museum of Catalonia and it was impossible for her to understand why it had been chosen to adorn the room, especially in such a... central position.

"It's a beautiful room but _this_ ," she pointed to the painting. "This is… cheesy," she admitted, cringing, unsure if it would offend him in any way.

She was more relieved when he laughed and shook his head positively and effusively, walking over to her side to observe the painting.

"She seems to accompany me everywhere I go like Monalisa," Raquel joked, taking a few steps to one side and then the other, all the while staring at the woman in the painting.

"There's something about her eyes, isn't there?" Sergio agreed, his own eyes widening as if that thought had crossed his mind earlier.

"But this bathtub is incredible," she nodded toward the bathroom. "I wish I had one of these at home."

The professor let out an almost imperceptible sigh. He tried, as hard as he could, not to imagine her lying there in that bathtub, but it was in vain. The image flooded his brain like a projection of his entire desire. Sergio never considered himself a carnal man. He had always been much more about reasoning, logic, pragmatism. But there, with Raquel in front of him, there was no coherent thought in his head.

All he could think about was that he had made her come in the bathroom and now she was in his room, wearing only the silk wine dress she was wearing when he met her at the nightclub. He could only think of pulling that fabric out of her body, tasting her again and making her moan his name in the same way she recently had.

"And what about this?" Raquel continued walking on the brown carpet until she reached a small wooden table, paired with two padded chairs, and noticed that on the table there was a small board of cold cuts and fruits, a bottle of wine and two glasses. She shot Sergio a curious look, arching her eyebrows.

"I swear it was already there when I arrived," Sergio nervously replied, to her amusement, as she was trying to hide the smile on her lips. "I think it comes with the room, I don't know," he adjusted his glasses once again.

Raquel rested her coat on the back of the chair and placed the room card and her bag on the table before turning to him.

"Do you want to have a drink?" He offered, walking towards her, his attention turned to the bottle on the table, still a little anxious, and Raquel couldn't help smiling when she realized how adorable he was when he was flustered.

"Not now..." She replied, placing the palm of her hand on his tie, making all the professor’s attention turn to her.

Sergio swallowed when she smiled seductively, undoing his tie with her hands, looking at him with a spark in her eyes.

"Now I want to do something else," Raquel said, pulling his tie by the collar of his shirt and letting it fall between them on the carpet.

She glued her body to his, her hands sliding over the back of the professor's head, who looked at her as if he was mesmerized. Raquel decided that maybe that was what she had found most attractive about him all night – the way he looked at her, as if she were the only thing he could see in the room.

Slowly, she brought her lips closer to his. Before kissing him, however, she put her hands on the collar of his jacket, sliding it off his shoulders and arms until the jacket was tossed by her on the back of the chair and completely forgotten by the two of them.

Raquel could feel her breath hitch as she grazed her lips over his and then Sergio's hands were on her waist, and he pulled her in for an intense kiss, making her think she would come undone right then and there.

Then Sergio trailed his kisses down her neck and she couldn't help a low moan when he grazed his teeth against her skin.

Ready to push him towards the bed, she opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the damn picture over the bed.

_Ignore it, Raquel. Just ignore it._

She tried. She _really_ tried, but it looked like she was being watched by a member of the Spanish royal family immortalized in that painting like Dorian Gray.

"Sergio..." She held his face in her hands, still out of breath, trying to get him to pay attention to what she had to say.

He frowned, worried that something was amiss. "What's wrong?"

"Um..." She smiled, embarrassed, pointing her index finger towards the wall. "Can we cover the painting?"

Sergio followed the direction she was pointing at, turning to the painting before looking back at her with a small smile and a relieved expression.

"With what?" He looked around, looking for anything that was big enough to cover the painting.

The journalist moved away from him to hold one end of the blanket.

"Maybe this?"

"Vale," he agreed, adjusting his glasses on his face. He would do whatever she wanted so that she would kiss him again.

"Take this side," Raquel instructed, going to the other side of the bed to hold the other end of the blanket.

Together, they lifted the fabric and walked towards the painting. However, while Sergio raised his arm to easily place it over one of the edges of the painting, he noticed that Raquel did not have the same attributes as him to do this.

"Do you need a ladder?" He teased her, trying to hold back a smile, and she shot him a withering look.

"Shut up," she replied, rolling her eyes and taking off the high heels she wore with her free hand. Then, she climbed onto the bed gracefully, hanging her side of the blanket in the corner of the frame.

Raquel walked away cautiously to make sure the blanket would stay in place. Done. It was perfect. Realistically creepy painting covered. She smiled.

Sergio also smiled – but at the image of her standing on top of the bed, staring at the hidden picture.

"Satisfied?" He asked.

Raquel walked on the bed, stopping in front of him, although the difference in height between the two now had his face dangerously close to her breasts.

She knelt down slowly, aware that he was paying attention to her every move.

"Not yet," the journalist answered the question that Sergio had already forgotten he had asked.

She unbuttoned the first button on his shirt without interrupting eye contact.

"Maybe you can do something about that?"

He responded by sliding his hands around her waist and the feeling of the silk fabric with the heat emanating from Raquel's body was enough to make Sergio believe that he was delusional and this whole situation was due to a fever dream.

 _She_ was unbelievable.

And as if he wished to prove his thesis that she was not real, the professor closed the distance between them with a slow kiss, trapping her lower lip between his teeth and loosening his grip on them slowly, making her let out a sigh.

Raquel was momentarily distracted by the kiss, the way he looked at her, the way his hands caressed her waist – but as soon as she regained her senses, she undid the buttons on his blouse one by one, her breathing already shallow as he pushed her hair out of the way and brushed his lips against her jaw and neck.

The journalist had to concentrate to finish what she was doing, but soon she was taking the shirt off Sergio's body at an incomparable speed and turning her attention to unbuttoning the belt around his pants.

He pulled down one of the straps of her dress, taking off his own shoes and his socks while she tossed his belt somewhere on the floor.

Raquel unbuttoned his pants as they kissed lasciviously and then leaned on his shoulders to get off the mattress, placing one foot at a time on the carpet. She took the opportunity to invert their positions, making him stand with his back turned to the bed and letting his pants fall to the floor.

"Lie down," she whispered against his lips, pulling away just enough to see him obey her command, lying on the white sheets as if he was mesmerized by her presence.

She put her hands on the waistband of his underwear and knelt slowly in front of him as she pushed it down his legs until finally freeing him from the fabric completely.

Sergio felt his breath hitch when she dragged the tips of her nails down the inside of his thighs, making him hiss and hardening his erection even more.

Raquel left a kiss on his thigh before biting the same spot, smiling at the reaction she managed to elicit from him – a hoarse moan that made him take a deep breath.

She held him by the base of his cock, bringing her lips close to his erection and gradually cupping his length in her mouth. He closed his eyes, focusing only on the feeling of her mouth around him.

Raquel started to move slowly along his length, using her fingers to stimulate the base, where she couldn't reach with her mouth. She alternated between slow and fast movements, with the aid of her tongue, as he unwillingly let out small grunts until his erection began to pulse.

"Raquel, I'm going to–" Sergio tried to warn her, but instead of pulling away she kept moving her mouth over him, keeping the pace until he let out a groan that seemed to come from the back of his throat, as he let himself go.

He closed his eyes and brought a hand to his face, trying to catch his breath when he felt Raquel slowly release him, wiping her lips with her middle finger while she looked at him intently.

She raised her eyebrows when she saw that he was still lying down, his face covered by one hand, breathing unevenly.

"Everything okay there?" Raquel asked.

Unconsciously and still unable to muster any coherence to speak, Sergio responded by raising his hand in a thumbs up sign, and then again brought his palm against his face, even more ashamed.

Raquel laughed, climbing on the bed and pulling his hands down, revealing the professor's completely flushed face, still with his eyes closed.

"Hey," she caught his attention, finally making him open his eyes and look at her. His eyes sparkled when he saw her smiling beside him, her hand still holding his.

She gave him a tender kiss on his lips, making him smile shyly. So she leaned in to kiss him again, and again, losing herself for a few moments on those lips that seemed to fit so well with hers. When she realized that he seemed more comfortable again, she took the glasses off his face and carefully placed them on the bedside table.

Then she put a leg around his waist, sitting on Sergio's hip and taking the dress off her body. His gaze changed instantly – from loving and shy to intense and voracious.

In response, he sat on the bed, hugging the journalist's waist and pulling her body against his, kissing her fervently before trailing a series of kisses down her neck. Raquel closed her eyes, letting her fingers feel every inch of the skin on the professor's back and nape as she felt his mouth approach her breasts with wet, dragging kisses.

When he grazed his teeth around her nipple, Raquel felt a shiver throughout her entire body and let out an unconscious gasp. She started to move her hips on top of him, the wet fabric of her panties rubbing against his erection and then it was Sergio's turn to let out a growl that reverberated on her skin.

Raquel moaned when he pulled her in for a kiss as he took a hand inside her panties, stroking her ass and bringing a finger close to her entrance. She arched her neck, letting her head hang back as he moved his finger across her slit, until it reached her clitoris, where he began to move his finger in a rhythm that made her eyes roll with pleasure. She realized that Sergio was the type of person that learned quickly, just by the ability to observe her body's small reactions to any movement he had made.

She pulled on a handful of the professor's hair, making him look at her.

"Wait," she whispered, using all the strength she had to get off him, standing up in front of the bed and taking off her panties slowly, maintaining eye contact with him at all times.

Sergio took a deep breath, his eyes roaming the journalist's entire body as if he were trying to immortalize that vision in the back of his mind.

She sat on the bed next to him again, throwing her arms around the professor's neck and starting another kiss, her hands once again getting lost in his hair, in his beard, on the nape of his neck, on his cheek. She slowly leaned back on the bed, taking his body along with her, until he started to kiss the skin down her neck, stopping on her lap, lingering on her breasts, creating a trail of kisses down her belly and purposefully avoiding her groin as he kissed her right thigh and then switched over to her left.

He alternated between grazing his beard and kissing and nibbling on the inner skin of her thighs, and it all still seemed miles away from where she really wanted – _needed_ – him to be.

"Sergio..." His name dragged out of her mouth, more like a groan than any vocative.

He felt himself harden and looked up in time to see her arching her back, her chest swelling and deflating slowly. Finally, he took his mouth to the very spot she was waiting for him to aim for, using only the tip of his tongue to tease her.

 _"Joder,"_ she murmured, bending her back even further and grabbing the bedspread with her hands.

Sergio concentrated on repeating everything he found out that she enjoyed in the bathroom. He repeated the movements of his tongue, the rhythms, the sucking at her most sensitive point until the journalist unconsciously closed her legs around his face. He continued to suck her clit slowly, quickly, intensely, and she felt her legs tremble.

The professor then inserted two fingers at once inside her and she moaned loudly, writhing under his mouth.

"S-Sergio," she stammered, feeling his fingers curl inside her and his mouth sucking on her clit as if his life depended on it.

Raquel could feel her skin boiling, a giant contrast to the cold breeze that seemed to grow at the pit of her stomach. She felt that each one of the professor’s movements caused a vibration to spread throughout her body and it did not take long for the pleasure that accumulated inside her to spill out in the form of an orgasm so potent that she closed her eyes and lost all awareness. Where she was from, how she got there – hell, maybe she couldn't even say _her own name_ if someone asked her.

When she finally managed to regain her senses, she opened her eyelids with some difficulty and realized that Sergio still traced his tongue along her slit, now more slowly and spaced out, as if he were trying to anchor her back to the reality of that moment.

He looked up to meet her eyes, closing his lips on her clit and kissing her there – kisses that started chaste, but that soon showed the use of his tongue as he provoked the already extremely sensitive organ.

"Sergio..." Raquel sighed, her voice hoarse, trying to support herself on her elbows with some difficulty. "Come here…"

He smiled at her, a smile unlike any he had ever given her that night, and slowly climbed up her body, placing several kisses on the length of her torso, her breasts, her neck, until he reached her lips.

The journalist took Sergio's face in her hands and stopped for a moment just to look at him, unable to say a word. She thought, very briefly, about how she could get used to the way he looked at her, how he touched her, how he kissed her. And before she could even think of putting that poisonous idea out of her mind, she felt his finger slide over her slit again, stimulating her, and she lost all reason.

"Please," she whispered. "Get the condom."

The professor nodded before opening his mouth hesitantly.

"I don't..." He stammered, frowning.

"In my purse," she replied, pointing to the small table in the corner of the room.

Sergio got off her and walked over to the table to pick up her purse while Raquel sat down, breathing in and out deeply. Soon he was back, handing her the bag. Raquel quickly opened the bag and found what she was looking for, giving him the condom packet as she tossed her bag on the floor.

He didn't take long, putting the condom on his erection and looking up at her, standing on her knees on the mattress.

Raquel pulled him into her, making him lie down on the bed, and put a leg over him, holding him by the base of his cock. She rubbed at his length a few times, making him squeeze her thighs while biting his bottom lip.

"Raquel..." He grunted.

Then she lifted her hips and slowly sank down on him until she was able to fit his entire length inside her. They closed their eyes at that moment, Raquel getting used to his size and Sergio absorbing how nice it was to feel her around him.

Raquel started to move on top of him slowly. Then she started to pick up her pace and move her hips, rolling them sideways and moving faster and faster. At one point, she used her internal muscles to tighten and release his erection.

 _"Joder,"_ he snapped the first time she did it.

She smiled and then continued riding him, letting out little moans of pleasure each time one of her movements made his cock press against a specific spot inside her. She was already moaning louder when Sergio brought his thumb up to her clit, starting to stimulate her with circular movements as she put her eyes blank.

 _"Aaah,"_ she moaned, feeling her muscles contract involuntarily as her orgasm approached again. "Just like that, just like that…"

"Raquel, I'm going to–"

"Come," she interrupted, riding him quickly until the two moaned almost in unison.

The journalist closed her eyes, allowing the pleasure to travel throughout her body as her entire weight fell on him.

They were both trying to catch their breath and yet she could feel his fingertips lightly caressing her lower back.

She moaned softly in Sergio's ear, completely surrendered to his caresses, feeling him pulsate one last time, still inside her.

When she finally felt able to move, Raquel guided his member out of her and dropped her body on the mattress beside him. She took a deep breath, trying to forget the tingling sensation that still ran through her body.

They spent some time lying next to each other on the bed, still wrapped in the post-sex tranquility and the warmth emanating from their bodies.

"I must admit one thing," Raquel finally said, her voice still tired.

Sergio turned his face to her, unsure of what to expect. "What?"

"This bed is so much better than mine," she laughed and soon he found himself infected by her laugh as well. "It feels like I'm lying in the clouds."

"So... the decoration is a negative point, but the comfort is a positive point?" He asked, settling himself on the pillow.

Raquel lay on her side to look at him better, with an amused expression on her face.

"Just so I can leave my correct assessment at checkout," he added, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I think that's it," she decided, smiling.

They fell silent again and Sergio found himself thinking that he had never been so comfortable with a woman in an intimate situation, but Raquel made everything seem so easy. If during the other times he had sex with a woman he would withdraw and find an excuse to leave soon after the engaged intimacy, with her, all he wanted was to do was stay. And he wanted her to stay with him.

"Sergio..." She interrupted his thoughts, nudging him with her index finger.

"Hm?"

She bit her lip, mischievous. "What about this bathtub, huh?"

Sergio laughed. “Do you want to use it? Be my guest."

She gave him a huge smile, standing up from the bed, but pausing to look at him when she saw that he was still lying motionless on the bed.

"Aren’t you coming?" She tilted her head, frowning at him.

He looked at her in surprise and her eyebrows rose automatically.

"I..." He choked on his own words and she reached out, making a gesture with her hand to invite him to join her. "Sure."

Then she glanced at the table in the corner of the room before pressing her lips together and looking at him with a suggestive expression.

Sergio, who was already sitting on the bed, perfectly captured her proposal. "Get the wine and I'll get the food."

She offered him a satisfied, giddy smile and walked towards the table to get the bottle and glasses, completely naked, without any care in the world.

He, on the other hand, was very aware of his own nudity, but he thought it would be inappropriate to put on his underwear just to get out of bed and go to the bathtub where, he supposed, she was inviting him to join her.

Then, swallowing hard, he got up from the mattress and walked, naked, to the table. He took the board of cold cuts and followed her to the bathroom, where she was already finishing tying her hair in a bun and then opened the bottle of wine.

Sergio pulled a small stool that was in the bathroom, taking the basket of robes that rested on top of it and placing it on the floor, so that it could support their appetizers near the bathtub. Unsure of what to do completely naked in the bathroom, he went to the bathtub to open the taps, sitting in one corner of the porcelain tub and trying to find a balance in the water temperature to fill it.

Raquel screwed the cap back on the bottle and rested it near the bathtub before taking the full glasses from the sink counter, but then her eyes fell on a small white bottle next to the hygiene items offered by the hotel.

She held the bottle awkwardly in her fingers as she carried the glasses to the bathtub, sitting on the other side and offering him a glass.

"Thank you," he said, taking the drink from her hand and taking a sip as he looked at her sitting there, naked, drinking her wine and looking absently at the water that filled the bathtub.

"Oh!" She smiled and lifted the small bottle in her hands. "Do you mind if I add bubbles?!"

Sergio smiled. It was surreal that she had the ability to be completely sexy in one second and look excited like a child on Christmas morning the next.

"Go ahead," he gestured toward the water, taking a sip of his wine as she opened the lid of the bottle and turned it over in the tub.

She squeezed the bottle and, unexpectedly, almost half of the liquid fell into the water.

"Oops," they both laughed and she quickly closed the bottle, placing it on the floor next to the tub. "I hope this doesn’t end in disaster."

Small bubbles began to form and multiply across the water's surface.

"Let me know if the temperature is good enough," Sergio said, turning off the taps.

Raquel put her free hand in the water and smiled. Without further ado, she put her legs in the tub and slid into it, resting her back on one end. She let out a breath, looking up to find him looking at her.

"It's perfect," she announced, almost in a whisper. "Come in."

"Okay," he nodded, getting into the tub and leaning against the other end. He had never done anything like this before – sharing a bathtub with someone else seemed very intimate and if the idea was suggested to him on a normal day, he would vehemently deny it.

However, that specific night he seemed to be doing all the things he would have sworn he would never do in his life, and something deep in his conscience told him that he would not be able to say no to anything that Raquel Murillo suggested.

They looked at each other in silence and exchanged a smile.

"So, professor," she rested the arm that held her glass of wine on the edge of the tub. "Tell me about the class you use my story on."

Sergio smiled – that was exactly why being with her was so good. Everything seemed so new and at the same time so familiar, she seemed to know exactly what to say, when to say it, how to say it.

He lost track of how much time they spent talking and eating until they emptied the board of cold cuts and drank half the bottle of wine. Talking about his class and her news story led them to discussing the role of independent journalism, the adaptation of the press in the age of social media, the fact that _he_ had no social media at all. One subject led to another, without them having to force any conversation.

Even the silence between them was comfortable, and it was in that particular silence that they were immersed when Sergio finished pouring more wine in her glass.

She smiled, thankful, returning to rest her back against the bathtub and closing her eyes for a few seconds.

"Hmmm," she sighed, opening her eyes to look at him. "Thank you for this moment."

Sergio smiled back at her. "Thank you for sharing it with me."

Raquel watched him for a moment, until she decided to put her glass on the floor.

"Come here," she asked, moving away from the end of the tub to sit in the middle, as close as she could get to him.

Sergio imitated her, resting the glass of wine on the floor and sitting in front of her, so close that he could see perfectly the birth marks that spread across her lap. He stood there, looking at her, waiting for her to make the first move.

She brought her face close to his and he closed his eyes, waiting for the moment when her lips would touch his, but that moment did not come. Instead, he felt her hands on his beard and opened his eyes to see that she was smiling, mischievous, while spreading some of the white foam on his jaw.

 _"Really?"_ He asked, trying to pretend dismay, but the corners of his lips were curved into a smile, denouncing his true intention.

"You will look very cute with a gray beard," she laughed, pleased with her work of art.

"Let me see something then," he said, joining in the fun and taking some of the foam in his hands.

"Nonononono," she shook her head, laughing and distancing herself from him.

"How come you can do it and I can’t?" He approached her, leaning over her.

Suddenly, he found himself leaning over her, her legs spread on each side of his hips, their faces dangerously close to each other. She bit her bottom lip and ran her hands over his beard, removing the bubbles of foam she had put there before looking at him intently.

Finally, she gave him a light kiss. He returned the kiss, which turned into another, and then another, until the kisses became more intense and Raquel felt one of his hands spread on her lower back, pulling her against him and making her feel the already prominent erection between their bodies.

She pulled away to look at him, her breath already superficial with the kisses they exchanged.

"We're getting the floor all wet," she whispered as if she were telling him a secret.

Sergio looked at the marble bathroom floor, realizing that there was already a puddle around the bathtub, and looked at her again.

Surprising even himself, he just shrugged and replied: "So what?"

Raquel laughed and gestured at the sink counter with her head.

He nodded in a bewildered manner, slowly getting up from the bathtub and helping her get up after him.

They began to kiss again against the sink as he pressed her between the furniture and his own body, and when he realized she had already opened a condom packet and placed it on his cock, he lifted one of her legs and held it up around his waist. Soon, he was inside her again, her arms around his shoulders as she gasped and moaned with each of his thrusts.

_We've made our secret language  
_ _Somewhere in the in between  
_ _All I gotta do is look at you, girl  
_ _And you know just what I mean_

They ended up in bed again, drier than they had been when they started to have sex in the bathroom, and she was on top of him again, riding him until the two of them moaned practically in unison and she fell, exhausted, on top of him.

Once she was able to move again, she lay down beside him, looking up at the ceiling while trying to calm her breathing.

When she looked at him again, she had the impression that he was looking at her affectionately.

That lit up a red light in her brain and she tried to remember any other instance where a guy she had just had sex with that way had looked at her _like that_ , without success. In Sergio's eyes, she saw no excitement, no possession, no pride in his own sexual achievement. All she saw was genuine interest. In _her_.

Raquel swallowed dry, unsure of how to process that observation.

"The truth is..." She sat on the bed, her head still dizzy. "I... I can't stay," she announced. "I need to go home... Tomorrow I have to wake up early and start working on this new story."

Sergio sat next to her, watching her talk with a disappointed look on his face.

"What time do you need to be at the office?"

"At 9, but I like to wake up around 7 to be able to calmly organize myself," she replied, running a hand through her hair. "Why?"

Sergio could only think of the fact that he didn't want her to leave.

"It's just..." He scratched his throat, exasperated to find the right words. He cast a sideways glance at his wristwatch.

If he had glasses on his face, she was sure he would have adjusted them on his nose and that observation made a small smile appear on her face.

"Raquel... It's... three in the morning," he finally said. "If you're going to have to wake up early anyway, does it make any difference whether it's here or at your place?"

She shook her head politely, even though she was already biting the inner part of her left cheek. Her night with Sergio had been incredible, but that was it. An incredible night.

Raquel Murillo did not get involved for more than one night with the same person and although she had already slept in the bed of some before leaving in the morning, something about Sergio's proposal made her believe that this time would be different.

"I mean, at least here you have this comfortable bed and breakfast service in bed," he continued.

This was a transgression of her own rule – but Raquel couldn't help imagining lying down in that bed that seemed to be made of clouds, to wake up lazily in those silky pillows and have a very gourmet breakfast that would not need to be prepared by her... Certainly, those were positive points after how much she had already drunk that night. It didn't have to mean anything. She had slept in other people’s beds before.

"This bed really is comfortable," she conceded out loud. "And breakfast in bed does seem very good too..."

Sergio smiled, relieved to see her at least consider the option.

“Well, Andrés’ investment can’t go to waste, can it?” He shrugged.

"Of course, after all, you only get married four or five times in your life," she replied, teasing him.

He laughed, looking down at his hands and making the tips of his fingers touch nervously.

Raquel let out a breath, making him look up at her again.

"Vale," she resolved. "But if you snore, I will shove your tie in your mouth."

"I don't snore," he defended himself, raising his palms in innocence.

"That's what we'll see," she raised an eyebrow, stepping under the duvet and noticing that he was doing the same. "Now move over and give me one of those pillows."

They lay down comfortably, Raquel grabbing one of the pillows as if she were a koala, both for the habit of sleeping like that and for keeping a safe distance between the two of them. Sergio turned off the lights using the switches next to the bed and lay on his back, rethinking every minute of the night.

Raquel was quick to fall asleep – she was _exhausted._ Within a few minutes, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to fall into Morpheus's arms.

Sergio, however, remained awake for a while longer. He lay on his side, facing her and didn't want to close his eyes – he didn't want that night to end because he knew it might be the only night that he would be lucky enough to be with her.

So he stood there, staring at her sleeping peacefully, trying to memorize each and every detail of her face. He cataloged each line – straight, concave, convex – that formed her features. The brightness of the piercing that adorned her left nostril, the one that perfectly matched her personality and that added even more beauty to her pronounced nose.

He lost himself for long minutes watching her lips, thicker than they had been in the evening, still slightly swollen from the last hours they had spent together, putting them to work. With his glance, he traced several paths between each birth mark in her lap. With his fingertips, he gently placed a lock of hair behind her ear, holding his breath to keep himself from waking her.

Until, suddenly, she moved, still sleeping, and turned to face the other direction, her bare back turned to him, completely oblivious to the whirlwind of thoughts that flashed his mind at that moment. Sergio lay on his back again and let out a little sigh. He had no idea how or why the woman who slept beside him had decided to spend the night with him. However, what caused him the most anxiety at that moment was the fact he didn't know how to convince her to want more. All he knew was that one night with her was far from enough.

_And I will wait for you  
_ _In my darkest hour, I'll never stray from this love  
_ _'Cause it's a one chance in a lifetime sort of thing  
_ _It's the kind of love sent from above_

 _We've made our secret language  
_ _Somewhere in the in between_  
 _All I gotta do is look at you, girl  
And you know just what I mean_


	5. Expuesta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo ❤️
> 
> Look at me miraculously being back with this story in a short period of time! 🤓🥴
> 
> I got to translate this chapter today in a waiting room so I thought those of you reading this might enjoy it 🥰
> 
> Thanks to everyone who has left a comment, I promise I'll get around to answering them soon! The support is very much appreciated 🥺
> 
> 🎵 This chapter’s playlist starts with “Coffee”, by Sylvan Esso, and goes up to “Touch in Mine (fingers)”, by Esperanza Spalding and you can listen to it here: https://tiny.cc/FYIW 🎵

_Touching surfaces every day  
_ _Feeling no spark of tenderness within_

 _Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine_

Raquel woke up startled – the usual sound of her alarm clock made her eyes fly open instantly and her brow furrowed automatically when she didn't recognize the room she was in as her own.

Only then she gradually remembered the night before. The nightclub, the drinks, the cumbia, the party, the hotel, Mónica feeling sick, Sergio. _Sergio._

She tried to sharpen her vision to look across the bed but she found herself alone. Only then did she discern the sound of the shower running in the bathroom and turned to the bedside table on her side of the bed, where she heard the sound of the alarm ringing insistently.

She took the phone out of her purse and turned off the alarm before placing a hand on her throbbing head. _How the hell did her purse get there?_

She put her phone on the table again – making a mental note that she needed to charge it soon as the battery was already at 1% – and quickly noticed her dress had been carefully folded and rested next to her purse and her shoes were perfectly aligned on the floor in front of the bed.

“Good morning,” Sergio's voice shook her out of her inquiring mind, still glazed from sleep, and she turned her head to find him shirtless, wearing only his underwear and his skin still damp from the bath he had just taken.

Raquel felt her gaze travel over the professor’s body, from his shoulders down to his–

"Good morning," she replied, interrupting her own thoughts and looking up to meet his gaze.

Sergio offered her a small, embarrassed smile, and went to his side of the bed to put on his pants.

"If you want to take a shower... There's an extra towel in the bathroom," he offered before quickly becoming anxious about his own suggestion. "Not that you need to, it's just that–"

"I would love to," she replied, pulling him out of his anxiety and stretching slowly before finally getting out of bed.

Raquel started making her way to the bathroom absentmindedly, before realizing that Sergio was looking at her as if he was discrediting her own eyes. He looked down nervously when he noticed that she had seen him and adjusted the glasses on his nose.

"There’s no need to be shy, you saw all of this yesterday," she laughed, continuing her way to the bathroom.

As she showered, Raquel thought that, after all, it hadn't been such a bad idea to sleep there. The bed was as comfortable as she imagined sleeping in feathers would be like and that shower head had the best water pressure she had ever experienced. She definitely had more sleep than she would have if she had come home at four in the morning, even though her head hurt a little from all the mixed drinks.

When she finished her shower, she wrapped herself in the towel that was left in the bathroom and went back to the bedroom, where she found Sergio using the iron to remove the creases caused by her on his dress shirt. The scene was so absurd – and she remembered Alicia calling him a nerd – that she had to laugh out loud and he looked up at her confused, almost completely forgetting the iron on top of his shirt when he saw her, wearing only a towel around her body, her hair tied in an awkward bun that was already threatening to come apart.

“If I iron my clothes once a month, it's a lot,” the journalist explained.

"I like my shirts ironed," Sergio replied with a shy smile, finally satisfied with his shirt, and turned off the iron, taking it over to the closet to put it away.

"Then I'm sorry I wrinkled your shirt yesterday," she teased, smiling as she got rid of the towel and tossed it on the bed and grabbed her dress from the bedside table, dropping her panties that were apparently stored there in between the folded dress.

"Actually, I didn't really care about that yesterday," he said, concentrating on putting his shirt while she finished putting the dress on her body. "I hope you don't mind that I organized your things... It's just that they were scattered along with mine and..."

"No problem," she smiled, biting her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing at his adorableness and picking up her panties from the carpet before putting them on too. "Thank you, by the way."

"Well... I think I promised you breakfast, didn't I?" He asked, approaching her with a small folder in his hand. "There are a few a la carte options here."

Raquel took the paper from him and sat on the bed, analyzing the options offered by the hotel.

"Mmmm," she bit her bottom lip thoughtfully. “This combo number two sounds great. And I’ll have a black coffee without sugar, please.”

"Sure," he replied, taking the folder back and walking over to the phone on the nightstand. He dialed the room service number and waited to be answered by an employee. "Good morning. This is from 506, I wanted to order breakfast. Yes, two black coffees, sugar on the side, a combo number two and a combo number three, but can you bring some lemon juice too, please? Yes. Er, let me–” He looked at Raquel, who was untangling the strands of hair with her fingers on the bed. "Raquel–"

She looked up at the professor right away.

"Do you prefer the eggs scrambled or fried?" He asked softly, his hand on one end of the landline.

"Scrambled."

"Scrambled," he repeated to the employee on the other line. "Okay, thank you," Sergio replied, hanging up the phone. "He said it should be coming in a few minutes."

Raquel nodded, lying back on the mattress and letting out a long breath.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye to this bed," she declared, eliciting a laugh from the professor, who sat next to her, his posture definitely more restrained than hers.

"As a matter of fact, I did sleep very well tonight," he admitted, without verbalizing the fact that he thought his great night of sleep had everything to do with her company.

Raquel turned on her side, resting her left elbow on one of the pillows and her head in her hand to get a better look at him.

"What about you, what time do you work today?" She asked, preferring to ignore any possibility of a hidden meaning in the professor's sentence.

"On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a class at 5 pm, but I usually go to the office after lunch to review my lesson plans," he replied.

"Ugh, free mornings are my dream," she said, letting out a breath. Then she smiled openly and nudged him with her index finger. "Is today the day you’re going to use my story in class?"

Sergio smiled, completely ashamed, his face almost the color of Raquel's dress.

"Sorry, that won't be today," he replied. "Unless you have an article written on human resource management in high-risk environments?"

"I have no article on it but I do have experience in the field," she sat up quickly and turned to him, smiling. "I would say that handling Alicia Sierra at a casino open bar party fits precisely that definition, don’t you think?"

Sergio laughed. "You definitely demonstrate effective skills on the topic."

"Some would say that in this case, even human resources are high risk."

"You could very well give a masterclass on the theme."

They both smiled, looking at each other silently for a few seconds. Neither managed to explain who made the first move, but soon they were both leaning against each other, their lips meeting delicately at first, as if they were both unsure of what they were doing.

However, as soon as they felt each other's touch – Raquel taking her hand to the back of his neck and Sergio taking his hand to her hair – there was no room for any uncertainty. Raquel deepened the kiss, allowing herself to feel again the way his mouth fit over hers, his breaths synchronously out of step, his hands sliding through her hair and around her waist.

She pushed him lightly by the shoulders, kneeling on the bed and sitting on his lap, straddling the professor and then leaning in to kiss him again. This time, Sergio seemed to be a little stunned by the fact that she was sitting on his lap, moving her hips subtly against his. When he seemed to regain consciousness, his first instinct was to adjust his posture and slide his hands around her waist, pulling her even closer.

Raquel pulled away, her face just above his and her lips pink and swollen.

"I'm wrinkling your shirt again," she bit her bottom lip, trying to hide a mocking smile as she cocked an eyebrow amusingly.

He looked at her, his gaze drifting slowly over the sight of the woman in front of him, until he simply shrugged.

"I still don't care," he replied, bringing a hand to the back of her head to pull her in for another kiss.

Raquel laughed against the professor's lips but soon came to focus again on the effect that his kisses had on her body. She could already feel a volume forming under the fabric of Sergio's pants, one of his hands sliding up her thigh under her dress, until a knock on the door made her pull away from him, her breathing shallow as she looked at him.

She swallowed, running her tongue over her lips.

"I'll get it," she said, preferring not to make any comments about the bulge that would prevent him from getting up at that moment.

She straightened her dress as she walked to the door, opening it to make way for the hotel clerk who was pushing a cart with two covered trays to the corner of the room. He quickly placed the trays on the wooden table and pulled the cart back, wishing them a good day and a good meal.

Raquel closed the door behind the employee, walking back to the bed and smiling at Sergio, who was still sitting and leaning against the headboard, holding a pillow in his lap and looking completely flushed.

She could see the distress in his eyes and was trying as hard as she could not to laugh right then and there.

"I bet he didn't notice anything," the journalist said, swallowing the sound of a chuckle.

Sergio cast an unsure look at her. "Raquel…"

"Bueno," she shrugged, smiling and walking towards the table in the corner of the room. "I am going to eat. What about you?"

It didn't take long for her to feel Sergio's presence beside her, as she removed the lids from the trays to inspect which one would be hers.

"This one’s mine," she said, sitting on the chair facing her plate.

When she looked up, she realized that Sergio was still looking at his own dish.

"Something wrong?" She asked, taking the first sip of her coffee.

"It's just… there’s no lemon juice," he explained, looking at her with a blank expression.

Raquel raised her eyebrows, not understanding his hesitation. "So call them and they’ll bring it in a couple of minutes, right?"

Sergio looked at her with uncertainty but nodded, walking over to the phone by the bed. He would love to be able to pretend that these things didn't bother him and sit with her as if nothing had happened, but he was a creature of habits and drinking his lemon juice in the morning was one of those habits.

He made a quick call to the hotel concierge, explaining what was missing from his request, and received an apology and confirmation from the employee that his request would be answered immediately.

With that, Sergio felt more relaxed to come back and sit at the table. As much as there was a logical order for his morning ritual, he decided that not eating or drinking anything while Raquel had her breakfast would be very strange, so he chose to grab his cup of coffee and take a few sips distractingly.

"Is it ayurveda?" Raquel asked, placing some of her scrambled eggs on top of a slice of toast.

"Sorry?" He frowned, not really understanding what she had said.

"The lemon juice in the morning," she shook her head. “Mónica drinks warm water with lemon before eating anything. She said it’s some kind of Ayurvedic medicine.”

"Oh," Sergio nodded, opening a smile. "Something like that. I started doing it because I felt sick in the morning and I couldn't eat properly… A doctor recommended it to me, but it ended up becoming…”

"A habit?"

"Well, yes."

"Got it," she said. “Coffee is my morning habit. And after lunch habit... And evening... And sometimes even a night habit, when a deadline is tight.”

They laughed and before Sergio could answer her, a knock on the door interrupted them again. He got up quickly, motioning for her to stay where she was.

"My turn," he said, smiling at her.

Sergio walked to the door, opening it without further ado. To his surprise, instead of the hotel employee again, Andrés and Martín were standing on the other side.

"Hermanito!" Andrés exclaimed, raising his hands and smiling.

"Andrés, what are you doing here?" Sergio asked, a nervous expression taking over his face.

"You were all mopey when you came to your room yesterday, I thought that—" Andrés pushed the door open and entered the room as if it was the most natural thing in the world, stopping in his tracks only when he realized that Raquel was there, getting up from the chair where she was sitting.

Raquel offered him an embarrassed smile and Martín soon joined Andrés, leaving a confused Sergio with the door handle in his hand. He cast an apologetic look at the journalist, whose gaze alternated between the three men in front of her.

"Oh," Andrés made a surprised expression, looking over his shoulder to glance at Sergio. "Sorry, I didn't know you had company."

“Andrés–” Sergio closed the door and tried to place himself among the three but was soon interrupted by his brother again.

"Good morning, Raquel," he said politely.

"Good morning, Andrés," she replied, visibly embarrassed.

Andrés gestured to the man beside him. "This is Martín, I don't remember if you met him yesterday."

The first image that popped into Raquel's mind was Martín running around the rooftop bar wearing only his underwear, singing something about two booms and a ciao.

"I think we saw each other," she said.

"It’s a pleasure, bonita," the man greeted her with an Argentine accent, his piercing blue eyes watching her with curiosity.

"Likewise," she replied.

"Sorry, we didn't want to interrupt your breakfast," Andrés explained, frowning dramatically. "We came to invite Sergio to eat with us because you had to see his face yesterday when he thought you were gone."

 _“Andrés, please,”_ Sergio snorted, embarrassed.

"Really?" For a brief moment, Raquel forgot how much she wanted to get out of there and smirked, casting a curious look at Sergio before looking back at Andrés.

"I’ve never seen my brother spend more than twenty minutes at a party out of his own volition," he declared. “I hope you will do the honor of attending my wedding this weekend? Maybe that way he will stay longer than the time we’ll take to exchange rings.”

"Oh, I... I appreciate the invitation, but... I have a lot of work to do this weekend," she said, taking her coat from the back of the chair and walking over to the bedside table.

Andrés made an exclamation of disapproval, placing his hand emphatically on his chest. "This Sunday?"

"Yes, yes..." She said, putting on one of her shoes quickly. "Actually, I should really get going, I still need to head home before going to work," she added, putting on her other shoe.

Sergio looked at her, trying to think of anything that would make her stay a little longer. "Raquel–"

"Thanks for breakfast, Sergio," she interrupted him, walking over to where the three men were standing in the room, keeping a healthy distance between them. She looked at Andrés and Martín with a polite smile. "It was a pleasure to meet you, I hope your wedding is beautiful and that you two are very happy together."

Martín shook his head slightly. "We aren’t–"

“I am not going to marry Martín,” Sergio's brother stated soberly, speaking over the man beside him.

Martín side-eyed him with an expression of someone who seemed to have taken some offense at his vehemence in denying any romantic relationship between the two of them.

Raquel's eyes widened, both in shock and in deep, extreme shame. "Sorry?"

Andrés cleared his throat, suddenly stiff. "He's... one of my groomsmen."

"Oh," she exclaimed. "I... I see..." She got lost in her own reticences, unsure of what to say after such an error in judgement. “Well, I am so sorry for the misunderstanding. Anyway, umm, have a good party and a good day.”

She hurried out of the room and when the door closed behind her, Sergio cast a withering look at Andrés and Martín. His brother still seemed to brood over the fact that she had understood that he was going to marry his best friend, while Martín seemed to be particularly happy with the misunderstanding.

"I liked her," the Argentine said with a silly smile on his face.

Sergio rolled his eyes and was unable to hold back the growl of frustration that escaped his lips.

This was not what he had envisioned for his morning.

_There's a vibrational current between  
_ _Every fingertip and the unseen  
_ _Dipping your subtle hand into the flow  
_ _Neural connection now sings us_

 _Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine_

Raquel hurriedly left the elevator and didn't look around as she made her way to her desk. Alicia was already seated at her own desk next to her and turned her head in time to see Raquel put her purse and belongings in their usual places.

"Thank you for waiting for me," Raquel ironically said as she took out her phone, charger and journal from her bag.

The redhead snorted, annoyed. "Oh, yeah, please do complain even though you didn’t reply to any one of my messages..."

"I didn't see your messages," Raquel replied dryly.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Yup."

"Seriously, my phone died on my way home," she explained, gesturing with the phone and the charger in her hands and finally plugging the device into an outlet.

“Always the same problem, Raquel,” her friend shook her head.

"You could have waited just a little longer," she said, her tone less irritable than before and far more needy.

"So, tell me," Alicia leaned over her desk, resting her chin on one hand.

Raquel was still tidying up her desk and waiting for her computer to turn on while she tried to ignore the question.

"Hm?"

"Oh, no, you're not going to dodge this one," the redhead shook her head. "Tell me, come on," she whispered conspiratorially. "How was it?"

Raquel shrugged. "Good."

"Develop it further, please."

"Alicia," she shot her a reproachful look.

"Raqueeeeel," Alicia pouted, starting to nudge her friend's waist insistently.

Raquel grunted, trying to escape the redhead's sharp nail.

"It was great, okay?" She finally gave in, her voice low but firm. "It was the best fuck I've had recently, satisfied?"

Alicia stopped poking her friend and opened her mouth in shock. _"The nerd?"_

She laughed, remembering how that same word came to her mind earlier.

"Believe me."

"It’s always the ones you least expect," the redhead contemplated aloud.

Raquel smiled. "I already knew he was good from that short time in the bathroom, but... Let's say he is... _very focused."_

"Interesting," Alicia started to nibble on one of her nails thoughtfully before tapping them on her friend's desktop to get her attention. "So did you give him your number?"

"The time for gossip is over, I need to work," Raquel replied, turning to face the computer.

"You didn't, did you?" Alicia let out a heavy breath, as if she were disappointed. "Raquel, I already taught you that we don't waste perfectly good sex b–"

 _"Ali, enough!"_ Rachel sharply interrupted the redhead. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Alicia looked at her friend, widened eyes as she nodded, startled by her reaction. 

"Okay."

She turned back to her own computer, frowning, and Raquel felt bad about being unnecessarily rude but – at that moment – she needed to focus on the story she was given.

So she decided she would deal with Alicia later and opened her email inbox, where she found the anonymous tip Prieto had received. An unidentified source confirmed to Prieto that there was evidence of a crime associated with Senator Mario Gutiérrez, but that for fear of reprisals the only information he could offer them was an address in Toledo.

Raquel spent some time researching the address, but all her searches indicated that the space was rented as a commercial space and that it had been empty for years. So she dedicated herself to study more about Senator Gutiérrez's life. She found information about his childhood, the beginning of his political life, photos of him with Pedro Almodóvar, members of the royal family and billionaire Elon Lopez. And, of course, pages with several fake news about the politician.

After a few hours, she finally took a break to buy a cereal bar from the vending machine and drink a cup of coffee, her head still hurting from the amount of alcohol she had ingested the night before.

Against her will, her thoughts returned to Sergio. She thought about how rude she had been to him at the nightclub only to discover, not long after, that he didn't deserve that treatment. The way she felt comfortable talking to him about so many different subjects and–

She shook her head when she started to remember Sergio's kisses, what it felt like to have his hands roaming her body, the moments when he made her come. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Determined to get those images out of her head, she went back to her desk, opened a new document and began to write furiously, even making Alicia turn her face towards her to eye her curiously. When she finished, she sent the document to the shared office printer and retrieved the printed document with a smile on her face.

With the paper in hand, she marched to one of the corner offices in their headquarter.

"Antoñanzas," Raquel called out, knocking on the open door to get the attention of the financial manager. "Can we talk?"

"Sure, Raquel," he nodded, gesturing for her to enter. "What do you need?"

Raquel handed him the printed document, letting out a small sigh.

"I need a budget approved."

_Follow blind  
_ _Fingertips feeling their way  
_ _And with ten roaming lips  
_ _Unwrap the delicacy folded within silence_

Raquel knew she needed to be the first to say something.

They hadn't exchanged a word since they left Faro's office and Alicia had that expression on her face that telegraphed she wouldn't give in until she heard exactly what she wanted.

Yes, they were going home together, but the redhead's stoic countenance left no doubt that she was upset.

Which was _terrible,_ because she knew it made Raquel feel even worse than she already was but that was Alicia.

They had just left the subway and were walking side by side at the station when Raquel let out a loud sigh that made Alicia cast her a sideway glance and cross her arms expectantly.

“Ali,” Raquel put a hand on her friend's forearm, giving her an apologetic look.

Alicia looked at her, her mouth pursed as she waited to hear a magic word.

"I’m sorry," Raquel said.

"Hm," she arched her eyebrows, her expression still hardened. "Sorry for what?"

"For being rude to you earlier," Raquel let out with a sigh, wrapping her arm around Alicia's and pulling her close. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry with whipped cream and cherry on top."

The redhead rolled her eyes, unable to hide a smile. "And why exactly were you rude to me earlier?"

Raquel felt her friend nudge her with her index finger and let out a grunt of frustration.

"I hate it when you do that," she mumbled.

"Come on, you know it’s good for you," the redhead insisted.

She took a deep breath as the two squeezed themselves on one side of the escalator, each one of them on a different step. "I didn't want to talk about yesterday–"

“–and today–” Alicia interrupted.

“–and today…” Raquel rolled her eyes. "Because... because at one point," she paused quickly as the two got off the escalator and dodged people until they reached the sidewalk on their block. "I caught him looking at me in a way," she tried to explain, shaking her head. "That made me… _uncomfortable."_

"Like what? In a bad way?” Alicia turned her head to her, with the face of someone who would go after Sergio and make mincemeat of him if she answered yes.

"No, no," Raquel denied, trying to find the words to make her understand what she was saying. "It's just... it made me feel... _vulnerable."_

The redhead nodded in silence for a few seconds, pondering Raquel's admission.

"Go on."

"It's just..." Raquel let out a dry chuckle, shrugging her shoulders as if she was officially giving up trying to escape the subject. "In one night I know more about him than I know about the last ten people I've slept with."

Alicia looked at her expecting a continuation. "And...?"

"And I'm not used to that," she admitted, her gaze following the lines of the sidewalk as they walked together. “I have my separate drawers, Ali. Family, friends, work, sex. I know with whom to talk about what, in what situations I need each person and there is a category exclusively for ‘sex’. Just sex. The last time I made a mess in my drawers...” She shook her head as if the movement would help make the memories that flooded her mind disappear. "I decided a long time ago that I don't want to do it again."

"Raquel, I know," Alicia squeezed her friend's arm. "But can I ask you just one question?"

"Hm," Raquel looked at her intently.

"How did he make you feel?" Her friend asked. "Vulnerable, okay, but... When you were with him, how did you feel?"

The journalist pondered her response in silence for a few seconds.

"Exposed," she conceded, widening her eyes as she admitted it out loud. "But... welcome," she added.

Alicia seemed to be giving her the time she needed to keep talking, listening carefully and avoiding looking at her at all times.

Raquel took a deep breath. "At ease," she continued. "I think… I felt… Good?"

The question at the end of the last word did not go unnoticed by her friend, who smiled at her affectionately.

"Cariño, you deserve no less than that," she said. "You know that, right?"

"I know," Raquel nodded, smiling slightly.

The redhead bit her lower lip, wondering how to continue the conversation without forcing the subject on her friend. She knew this was a sensitive issue when it came to Raquel. She remembered – _she was there._

"Do you know why I keep going out with Germán?" She finally asked, looking at her friend.

Raquel shook her head thoughtfully. "Why?"

"Because he makes me feel good," the redhead replied, smiling.

Raquel smiled back at her. "What about yesterday's DJ?" She asked. "Ágata?"

"She certainly made me feel great too," Alicia replied, arching her eyebrows suggestively.

Rachel opened her mouth, shocked. "When?"

"Hey, you spent an eternity out on the terrace with your professor," she replied, letting out a dramatic sigh. "A lot happened in the meantime."

"Good to know," she nodded, smiling.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they approached the building's entrance. Raquel opened the gate and pushed the glass door for her friend to go through before closing it behind them. They were already halfway up the first flight of stairs when Alicia decided to end the conversation the way she wanted all along.

"Nena, I know that... after Alberto... it was easier for you to get into this wagon with me," the redhead said, referring to the convinced single life she led. "I think it was important, too, for you to get rid of his shadow, you know?"

Raquel bit the inside of her cheek while listening to her speak. The only sound she made was the heels of her shoes hitting each step as they went up to their apartment.

"Of course, there are times when you need to consider whether the person in front of you is the best option," Alicia continued. "But you need to stop thinking so much and just _live,"_ she raised her eyebrows again emphatically, trying to encourage her friend with a smile. "I'm not saying it’s yesterday’s nerd but... I would say he was a good start, right?"

"Yes..." Raquel agreed, nodding. She smiled as she absorbed each one of Alicia's words. "A great start, actually."

“Raquel Murillo,” her friend opened her mouth, pretending to be shocked. "Are you going soft on me?"

"Calláte," she laughed, taking a deep breath as she continued up the stairs. “You and your Three’s Company remake.”

"Idiot," Alicia rolled her eyes, letting out the air from her lungs as she took the last step up to their floor. "Next time," she said, breathing hard. "Can we talk while sitting?"

"Agreed," Raquel nodded, smiling as she unlocked the apartment's front door.

Then, everything happened too fast – Raquel pushed the door but the inside handle hit the vase that held their umbrellas, which fell to the side with a noise, soon followed by the sound of glass crashing on the floor and a male scream, followed by Raquel and Alicia's own screams.

They widened their eyes at the image in front of them.

Between broken glass and a puddle of water, there was Daniel, the guy Mónica had met the night before, completely...

_Naked._

He quickly placed his hands on his groin to hide himself, unsure of what to do.

"Hi, I... Um..." He stammered as the girls continued looking at him, still incredulous but with amusement written on their faces, as if they were holding back their own laughter.

They heard one of the bedroom’s door open shortly thereafter and Mónica appeared wearing only panties and a white tank top.

"What hap—" She interrupted herself when she saw her friends standing at the door. "Oh my God, I'm sorry," she looked at Daniel, who was still standing naked in the living room, not sure of what to do. "I’ll clean this up, can you go to the bedroom so I can talk to the girls, please?"

"S-sure," Daniel nodded, red as a tomato, carefully leaving the spot where he was. As he turned on his side to head towards the corridor, he brought one hand to partially cover his butt.

Raquel and Alicia were still standing at the door, gaping.

"Can you at least close the door?" Mónica asked, agony sipping through her entire demeanor.

The two women started laughing, finally moving from the place they were frozen in as Alicia pushed the door and Raquel lifted the vase with the umbrellas. Mónica allowed herself to join them in laughter, lifting a hand to cover her face in exasperation.

"Sorry, I lost track of time, I should have known you’d be home soon," she said.

"It’s okay," Raquel replied, leaving her bag on the kitchen counter and throwing a cloth to her friend.

"Thank you," Mónica bent down, using the cloth she catched midair to dry the puddle.

Alicia, in the meanwhile, took a paper bag and started to collect the pieces of glass scattered on the floor. "How did you get home so early?"

Mónica shook her head, murmuring something inaudible, when Daniel came back into the living room fully dressed.

"Are you going already?" The blonde asked, getting up with a confused expression.

"Yes, I’m supposed to meet my father for dinner," Daniel explained. "Do you need help cleaning?"

"No, everything is under control," Mónica assured him, offering him a sweet smile.

"Okay," he smiled back, turning to her friends, who were already beside each other behind the kitchen counter. “I… I'm sorry. It was nice to see you again.”

"You too," Alicia replied, cracking a smile, and Raquel giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose, embarrassed, and shook his head before turning back to Mónica.

"I’ll text you," he said, reaching up to gently hold Mónica's chin and leaning in to leave a kiss on her lips.

"Good evening," she replied softly, smiling at him.

"Good evening, girls!" He walked away slowly, opening the front door before nodding quickly at them.

When the door closed behind him, the three started laughing again.

"Mónica Gaztambide, what happened today?!" Raquel asked, smiling at her.

Mónica opened her mouth to reply, but her face contorted in an expression of sadness and frustration and soon after she was giggling again.

Not giggling, full on laughing. Laughing so hard that Raquel and Alicia looked at each other, worried, and approached her.

"Món?" Raquel called her again.

"Tell us the joke and make us laugh too," Alicia nudged her friend, trying to probe the thought out of her.

"It's just..." She took a deep breath to try to hold back her laughter. "Wow," Mónica walked over to the couch, sitting in the middle of it and exhaling heavily. "I arrived at work today – with _the worst_ hangover, that's worth mentioning – and you know..."

Raquel and Alicia sat by their friend, patiently waiting for her to finish telling what had happened, despite having the feeling that that story would not be much fun at all.

Mónica shook her head. "The first thing Arturo did was order me to get him coffee, call me a sweetie and grab my ass."

"Tell me we're going to get to the funny part soon," Alicia murmured, her brow furrowed at her friend.

"Do you know what I did?" Mónica asked. Her eyes were filled with tears but she still had a smile on her face nonetheless.

Raquel put her hand on her back, stroking her gently. "What?"

"I grabbed the coffee, threw it on his pants and quit in front of everyone," she laughed.

The laughter grew, marked by the small pauses in which she tried to catch her breath.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life," Mónica laughed dryly, her eyes filled with tears.

Raquel and Alicia continued to caress her arms and her curly hair until they looked at each other with a complicit look on their faces.

"I'll get the tequila," Alicia decided, getting up immediately.

Raquel did the same, equally determined. "I’ll get the ice cream."

_Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine  
_ _Touch in mine_

When Sergio arrived at his apartment, almost ten at night, he was exhausted.

After Raquel ran out of the hotel room, he had to put up with Andrés and Martín asking questions and joking around until he managed to convince them to have coffee in the hotel's restaurant. He didn’t stay for long and, after finishing his breakfast, he returned home to change his clothes and went to the university to review his lesson plan.

However, he would be lying if he said that he did not think about Raquel throughout his day.

In fact, he was having a tremendous hard time _not_ thinking about her.

Right now, he was sitting in his chair with a glass of whiskey in hand, Ástor Piazzolla's Primavera Porteña notes coming out of his record player – and he couldn't occupy his mind with anything else but _her._

A little hesitantly, he took a sip of whiskey, unlocked his phone and typed her name in the browser search bar.

_Raquel Murillo._

The first result was a page with her name on the Faro Es website. There was a professional portrait of her, in which she wore a white long-sleeved turtleneck blouse and a black skirt, wearing her hair down and a small smile – and maybe he spent more time than he should have looking at her photo, trying to remember every detail from the night before.

Then, he read her biography, a short text written in first person with her academic credentials and professional experiences. Sergio absorbed the information as he tasted his drink, trying to associate the words of the text with the woman he had spent the night with.

He remained there for the rest of the time he drank his whiskey, beating himself up for not going after her, for not asking for her number, for having missed the opportunity to keep seeing the only woman he had been interested in in the past few years. The woman he was able to talk with comfortably, whose work he admired and who had a smile that could most certainly convince him to do the craziest things.

He smiled at that realization, managing to imagine himself with her on a paradise beach halfway across the ocean or in an assault on the National Bank. It didn't make any sense, rationally. He only spent one night with her, how could he miss her already?

He took a deep breath and decided to end that day once and for all.

Sergio was not used to having very positive thoughts when he lay in bed to sleep. In fact, it was often the time when he was most anxious throughout the day. Usually he would lie down early with a book and a piece of paper to fold an origami before going to bed, but that night he lay down to sleep with his mind occupied with memories of Raquel, his anxieties and worries in the background, as if he was numb to them.

That night, he allowed himself to close his eyes and imagine a future in which he was lucky enough to run into Raquel again.

_There's a vibrational current between  
_ _Every fingertip and the unseen_  
 _Dipping your subtle hand into the flow  
Neural connection now sings us_


	6. Vaya Temita

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, cariños ❤️
> 
> Still haven't gotten around to reply to all of your comments but I promise to do it soon! I'm loving every feedback from you, be it a comment, a kudo or a tweet. Thank you so much 🥺
> 
> 🎵 This chapter’s playlist starts with “Ooh Nah Nah”, by SiR feat. Masego, and goes up to “Bulletproof”, by FARR and you can listen to it here: https://tiny.cc/FYIW 🎵

__

_Been there, done that, messed around  
_ _I’m having fun, don’t put me down  
_ _I’ll never let you sweep me off my feet_

Sergio was sitting at his desk, correcting students' tests while waiting for his next class. The classroom, set up in a small auditorium, was completely empty and the only noise that filled the room was the turning of pages and his red pen sliding through each one, pointing out theoretical, practical and spelling errors.

He was immersed and seemed so resolute – that was the first thing Raquel noticed when she stopped at the side door of the room, which gave her a profile view of the professor focused on the task in front of him. She bit her bottom lip, taking a deep breath, and knocked lightly on the classroom door.

Sergio turned his face and looked up in her direction but the frightened expression that dawned on him seemed to have come more from seeing her there than from being interrupted in the first place.

"Raquel," he said, still stunned by her presence there, and a subtle smile became noticeable on his face.

"Hi," she smiled, looking around before gesturing inside with one hand. "May I…?"

"Sure, come in, please," he nodded, rising from his chair to greet her.

Raquel closed the door behind her, still slightly embarrassed to interrupt him.

"How are you?"

"G-good," he stammered, watching her stop in front of him. She was wearing a black pencil skirt and a black and white striped blouse – much more dressed than she was the last time they met. "And you?"

"Good," she replied, noticing that he was once again wearing a dress shirt, this time a white one, his jacket resting on the back of his chair. The sleeves on his shirt were rolled up, showing his forearms and further marking the muscles in his arms.

They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, neither sure of how to fill that charged atmosphere.

Sergio let out a nervous laugh and Raquel accompanied him.

He shook his head, looking at the tips of his shoes when he started to speak. "How did you... how did you find me?"

"I'm a journalist, remember?" Raquel shrugged, keeping an expression of obviousness for a few seconds. Then she laughed, putting a lock of hair behind her ear. "And you told me what university you were teaching at."

"Oh, yes. Of course,” Sergio nodded, smiling. "So... to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Well," she took two steps towards him and suddenly they were so close that she could smell his perfume invading her lungs. "That is precisely the question."

He blinked two or three times, fazed by her proximity. "S-sorry?"

"I wanted your advice for a story I'm working on," Raquel explained and he smiled, nervous and red as the tie he was wearing. "I need some quotes from someone who works with administration and... I thought of you."

"Oh," his eyebrows went up as he understood her proposal and before he could even reply, she was already speaking again.

"But I think we can talk about it later," she continued, her face turned up, staring at him with heavy breaths inflating her chest.

Sergio swallowed dry, unsure of what she meant. "Later?"

"Later," she repeated, standing on her tiptoes to get closer and closer to him, initiating a slow kiss that was quickly returned by the professor.

She returned the heels of her shoes to the floor, making a small noise against the wooden boards, but it wasn't long before he leaned in and captured her lips again, one hand flat against her lower back and the other with his fingers tangled in her hair.

Raquel responded to the kiss immediately, running her hands through his hair, the back of his neck, the collar of his shirt, until she reached his tie, loosening it quickly and then opening the first buttons of his shirt.

Sergio interrupted her motions when he pressed her against one of the corners of the table, making her sit on the wooden desk and pressing his hips against hers. His hands slid down her legs, pulling up her skirt as she spread her legs wider to fit him in.

She brought one hand back to his hair, the other hand sliding inside his white shirt to caress his skin. They were still kissing when Raquel felt one of Sergio's hands slide down the waist of her skirt, one of his fingers caressing her over the fabric of her panties.

Raquel moaned into his mouth, making Sergio fly open his eyes and pull away from her lips just to look at her, his pupils dilated and hungry.

He pushed her panties aside, massaging her wet core with his fingers and Raquel closed her eyes, her head hanging back as she held onto his shoulders to keep her balance. When he brought his thumb over her clit, penetrating her with another finger, she moaned, biting her bottom lip in pleasure.

She could no longer think straight but she mustered all of her forces to remove Sergio's belt and unbutton his pants. He also wasted no time, lowering her panties and positioning himself between her legs. He was about to thrust into her when an electronic sound started to play, making the two of them look at each other confused.

Raquel blinked and, before she could even realize it, she woke up back in her bedroom, her alarm ringing incessantly beside her. She yanked her phone out of the charger and turned off the alarm, throwing an arm over her eyes. She let out a frustrated grunt, frowning, her legs still too weak for her to get up.

That was how her day would start then.

Great.

Just _perfect._

_I won’t let you in again  
_ _The messages I’ve tried to send  
_ _My information’s just not going in_

Raquel had been staring at the computer screen without knowing what to do for over thirty minutes. Now and then she would open her email or look at her notes, but the truth was that since she got in the office that morning she spent most of her time staring at a blank document.

She had her elbows on the table, her fingers massaging her temples as she tried to concentrate for everything that was most sacred.

She heard Alicia's voice beside her, but assumed that she was talking to herself or humming some music like she was used to doing while she worked.

Raquel was tired, with a killing hangover and still had a restless night of sleep due to an erotic dream about a man she didn't even know that well and–

"Quel?" Alicia interrupted her thoughts, leaning over her table with a concerned expression. “Are you okay? You’ve been far too quiet today.”

"I’m good," Raquel nodded, frowning when the redhead didn't seem to believe her answer. "I didn't sleep well tonight."

Alicia sighed. "Yeah, we’re past the age of drinking tequila and not feeling anything the next day."

She let out a dry laugh, pushing the wheeled chair from her desk and looking at her friend.

"I think I'll go get another coffee," she announced. "Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm just going to keep drinking water, thanks," Alicia waved her bottle at her, the expression of defeat also visible on her face.

They had stayed up until one o'clock in the morning talking to Mónica, drinking tequila and eating all the stock of sweet foods they had at home, until the blonde finally fell asleep on the sofa and Raquel and Alicia decided to leave her right there, covering her with a blanket and placing a pillow under her head.

Raquel put her porcelain mug in the coffee machine and pressed a few buttons, hoping that soon she would have the necessary fuel in her hands to survive until lunchtime.

"Good morning, Raquel," Ángel greeted her, approaching her with his own mug in hand.

She had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes – she already knew exactly what this meant. Raquel had known Ángel since her first job in the journalism field, he himself had let her know of the job vacancies in the Faro newsroom when she returned to Madrid and she would have loved to have him as a close friend, if it wasn’t for the fact that he did not he hide his attraction to her _at all._

Perhaps attraction was not the right word, as Alicia was sure that Ángel was in love with her. Raquel remembered that once, on a team trip to Cercedilla – or was it in Miraflores? Not even Raquel could remember it correctly –, they were all in a bar talking and maybe she had responded to one of his flirtatious comments because she was _bored,_ but after she got hydrated she was sure to make it very clear that _nothing_ would _ever_ happen between them.

She attended his wedding to Mari Carmen, for God’s sake.

Despite her internal soliloquy, all Raquel said back to him was a "good morning" very quietly but if there was something Ángel didn't have, it was common sense.

"How are you?" He asked, moving closer to her.

"I've been better," she said, taking a step back and looking at the coffee machine as if it were possible to control it with her mind.

"Oh," he made an expression that reeked of self-pity.

Raquel waited for the coffee to jest down the machine but nothing happened.

"What?" She was forced to ask.

"I was just going to ask you if... if maybe you want to have a drink today after work," he suggested.

Raquel raised her eyebrows at him. "Thank you but I'm still recovering from yesterday's drinks... and the day before yesterday."

"Claro," he nodded. "And... what if we were to eat something?"

Coffee finally started to fall into her mug and Raquel looked at her colleague with a confused expression.

"Is Mari Carmen going too?" She asked, watching – with a certain hidden pleasure – how nervous he became at the mention of his wife.

"Um..." He cleared his throat, adjusting the waistband of his pants with his free hand before gesturing effusively. "I– she... She is away visiting her sister."

"Hm, got it," Raquel made a thoughtful expression as she watched her mug being filled with a dose of fresh coffee. "I have a lot of work to do this weekend but ask her to text me when she gets back and we can set a date for the three of us."

"Yes," he replied, flushed with embarrassment. "Claro."

"Great," she smiled, taking her mug by the handle and nodding at him. "Have a nice day, Ángel."

_Burning bridges shore to shore  
_ _I break away from something more  
_ _I’m not turned on to love until it’s cheap_

 _Been there, done that, messed around  
_ _I’m having fun, don’t put me down  
_ _I’ll never let you sweep me off my feet_

At least the coffee had some effect on her and the rest of the day passed quickly – between answering emails and doing the final review of a story that had just been vertically diagrammed on the website, Raquel felt a little more productive.

She still felt she had a lot to do with her new story assignment but she didn't know which direction to go when she had no idea what she was looking for in the first place.

With ten minutes to go, she was already packing up her belongings in her bag, deciding that she would end the day then and there and that Monday she would be much more refreshed to handle the rest of the work she needed to get done.

"Do you want to eat Italian today?" She asked Alicia. "I'm in the mood for gnocchi."

When her friend did not answer, Raquel turned to Alicia, who was very concentrated while typing on her phone, biting her lower lip while holding back a smile.

Raquel frowned, suspicious. "Ali?"

The redhead finally looked up, her expression suddenly becoming much more sober. "Hm?"

"Who are you talking to so much, huh?"

"Nobody," Alicia shrugged. "Some people were replying to a story on Instagram," she mumbled, picking up her bag and getting up from her chair. "What did you say?"

Raquel decided that she was too tired to insist on the subject of who the hell she was texting, so she simply accepted the change of subject.

"I asked if you'd like to get something to eat at Oliveto," she explained.

"Yes, let's go, I'll see if Món wants anything," Alicia replied, this time unlocking her phone to send a message to the group shared between the three of them.

They were almost through the office's glass door when they heard Raquel's name echo throughout the floor.

"Raquel!" Antoñanzas exclaimed again, approaching her still eagerly.

"Hi, Antoñanzas," she replied, offering him a few seconds so he would catch his breath.

"I'm glad I still found you," he smiled, nodding to Alicia, who was watching him curiously. He looked at Raquel again, excited. "I wanted to give you the go-ahead and some good news for this Friday."

"It’s approved?!" She held up her hands, waiting for his confirmation.

"Yes, approved," he nodded. "Just tell me the dates for..."

"Tomorrow!" Raquel interrupted him. "I’ll go tomorrow."

This was perfect – all she needed at that moment was a change of scenery, some fresh air, to shut her head off the distractions that had decided to settle in her unconscious mind.

The finance manager looked surprised but he didn't dare disagree. "Tomorrow. Okay."

"Thank you, Antoñanzas," she smiled, clapping her hands excitedly as Alicia looked at them with a question mark on her face.

He smiled back. "Please bring me all–"

"All the receipts, I know!" Raquel replied, pushing the glass door.

"I appreciate it," he nodded to the two, walking away. "Have a nice trip, then!"

"Trip?" Alicia echoed as soon as they left the office. "What were you talking about?"

"I'm going to Toledo tomorrow to check an information from a source," Raquel explained, smiling proudly at her friend.

The redhead frowned, puzzled. "Toledo?"

"Yes," she stated, although she could see the gears working behind Alicia's eyes. "What?"

“Raquel, what do you think about going together? Me, you and Món?”

Raquel winced, not understanding the suggestion. "To Toledo?"

“Yes, you won't have to work all the time, will you? It can be a good distraction for Mónica, with her quitting and what not,” Alicia explained.

She shook her head thoughtfully. "That’s true."

Alicia smiled, putting an arm around her friend's shoulders. “Besides, it’s been so long since I’ve been to Sithons and I'm dying to eat a traditional mazapán.”

Raquel laughed, rolling her eyes. Perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea to go on a road trip and enjoy her free time with her best friends.

Didn’t she want a distraction after all?

"Okay, so it's settled."

_This time, baby, I’ll be bulletproof  
_ _This time, baby, I’ll be bulletproof_

 _I won’t let you turn around  
_ _And tell me now I’m much too proud  
_ _To walk away from something when it’s dead  
_ _Do-do-do your dirty words  
_ _Come out to play when you are hurt?_

"Okay, I have some items on our agenda," Alicia declared, tapping her nails rhythmically on the steering wheel, when the three were already comfortably distracted by the moving scenery outside of the rental car.

Alicia’s movement caught Raquel's attention and she noticed that, instead of her traditional long and sharp glass nails, Alicia was wearing short, round nails, keeping the usual matte black polish that covered them.

"First of all, when did you have time to go for a manicure?" Raquel frowned.

Alicia twisted her lips, pressing the steering wheel with her hands. "I may have told Prieto that I had an external appointment yesterday afternoon but that is beside the point!"

Raquel turned her head to look at Mónica, who was sitting in the back seat of the car with her glass of green juice in hand, and they exchanged a complicit smile.

"The agenda points are," Alicia continued, ignoring their non-verbal communication. "Work," she held up a hand to gesture emphatically, as if she were obviously going to start there to ensure that they would be approved in an imaginary Bechdel Test. “And in alphabetical order: Ágata, Daniel and Sergio.”

Raquel gulped when she heard the professor’s name mentioned but she preferred not to contest her friend and just curled up on the seat in response.

"Okay, work, I'll start," Mónica dragged herself to the edge of the back seat, resting her elbows on the back of the front seats. "I've been thinking and... I have that yoga instructor diploma that I never used," she rested her chin on the back of one of her hands. "Would it be really crazy if I threw up my career and just… go for it?"

Raquel looked at her friend with a small smile on her face. "Well, that was always something you liked, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Mónica replied, her smile lighting up her entire face.

Alicia nodded, looking at her friend through the car's rear view mirror. "And it has everything to do with all those Ayurvedic things you do and I don't understand."

"Món, I think that if it's something that makes you happy, you need to allow yourself to live it," Raquel said, exchanging an affectionate look with her friend.

 _“Interesting,”_ Alicia narrowed her eyes as she alternated her gaze between the road in front of her and Raquel, who rolled her eyes.

Mónica laughed before looking down, thoughtful. "Well, I feel happy doing yoga and I think I'm good at it."

"Nena, you know that we support you in whatever you decide," the redhead informed, assertive and affectionate as only Alicia could be. "Maybe you really need to change areas, your years in administration will certainly be more useful for you to manage your classes than to serve as a secretary for a scruffy asshole."

"It's a pretty big change," Mónica bit her lip. "My parents are not going to like this one bit."

"Cariño, follow your intuition," Raquel put her hand on her friend's arm, caressing her. "I think you would be great at it because it is something you love."

Alicia turned her face to Raquel suddenly, as if she remembered something. "Hey, doesn't Vero know someone who owns a yoga studio?"

"That’s true!" Raquel exclaimed, her eyes widening with the realization. "You can ask her!"

"I can," the blonde said, more to herself than to her friends. She looked around the car, contemplating her next steps, before looking back and nodding her head vehemently. "Okay, I'll text her when we get there."

"That reminds me, can't you tell us anything about this new story you're working on?" Alicia asked, frowning at the woman beside her.

"Ali, I already told you that Prieto asked me for confidentiality," Raquel said. "You know I would love to share my impressions with you but in addition to not being able to, I'm still at square one," she continued, unable to hide the frustration in her voice. "My hope is to get _something_ that will show me the right path on this trip."

"I liked it when we got to cover news stories together," the redhead sighed. "But it's okay, it's okay," she gestured with her hands, releasing the steering wheel to slip her hand into her bag next to Raquel's feet. 

Raquel instantly grabbed the steering wheel with one hand, muttering a curse word, and Mónica leaned against the back seat again, silently putting the seat belt around her waist.

Raquel rolled her eyes when she saw that all her friend's carelessness was just for her to take a lollipop from her bag. Alicia tore off the wrapping paper quickly and put the lollipop in her mouth before putting her hands on the steering wheel again.

"I'm glad you were able to include us on this trip at least," Mónica said, from the back of the car.

"Although Alicia does not show any caution with our physical integrity, I am happy to have you with me," Raquel replied.

Alicia clicked her tongue. "Are you done?"

Mónica smiled mischievously, leaning over as much as her belt would allow between the two of them. "Why? Are you looking forward to talking about Ágata?”

Raquel laughed.

"God," the redhead grimaced, taking the lollipop out of her mouth with one hand.

She seemed to be pondering what she was actually prepared to share with her friends.

"Okay, so it turns out..." She started, letting out a heavy breath. "We have a lot in common and..." She paused again. It was unusual to see Alicia swaying like that. "We’ve been talking."

"You've been talking," Raquel echoed, nodding and slowly absorbing the information with a knowing smile.

Mónica smiled. "How often?"

"Since... since Wednesday, actually," Alicia confessed, softly, putting the lollipop back in her mouth.

Raquel raised her eyebrows. "Every day?"

She swallowed. "Well, yes."

Raquel and Mónica looked at each other and before Alicia could say anything, Raquel raised her fist to her mouth as if it were a microphone.

"Are we witnessing the beginning of a new era for Alicia Sierra?" She asked, offering Mónica the imaginary microphone.

"Will she be able to leave her single life behind?" The blonde joined in the game and the two started laughing at the expense of the redhaired journalist.

"Hey, stop it, nothing is going to change in that sense," Alicia frowned, resolute. "It turns out that the two of us are also very compatible about that."

Raquel made a small hum of approval. "So you already discussed your relationship?"

"We... _talked..._ about a lot of things," Alicia started speaking very slowly. It was funny to see her like this, cautious. “Ágata travels a lot, she is always at a lot of parties, meeting new people… and so am I… and… seeing each other again doesn’t mean that we’ll give up any of that, just…”

"Except that your witch-like nails will be retired again," Raquel said, trying to keep herself from laughing.

"Ay, coño," Alicia slapped her friend playfully but that only made her let out the laugh she was holding. "Mónica, can it be your turn already, please?"

"Sure," the blonde cleared her throat before frowning. "But... I don't know if there is much to tell," she frowned. "I mean, Daniel is kind and... we're having fun..."

"A lot of it," Alicia intervened.

"A lot of it, yes," she laughed. "It's just that we're so different, you know?"

Raquel looked at her friend affectionately. "In what sense?"

"In all of them?" She laughed, shaking her head. "I’m calm, he's agitated," she lifted her thumb, starting to count with her fingers. "I'm vegan, he's completely carnivorous," plus an extended finger, accompanied by a grimace, and then she stretched out the third. "I love Mon Laferte, his favorite band is _Phish,"_ she made a face of dismay. "Phish, you know?"

Raquel laughed softly. "Okay, so maybe you are not as compatible as Alicia and Ágata–"

"Raquel..." Alicia rolled her eyes, interrupting her.

"But he seems to like you," Raquel continued, ignoring her friend's complaint.

"Yes," Mónica conceded. "He does," she shook her head, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "And the sex is good," she said, trying to change the subject. _"Pretty good,"_ she stressed. "And... it makes me laugh," she smiled. "So... I don't see why I can't enjoy it a little."

Alicia made a satisfied sound, pulling the lollipop handle to point it at the journalist sitting next to her.

"Which brings us to Sergio, doesn't it, Raquel?"

"I don't understand how our situations are alike, except for the fact that we all met on the same night," she mumbled.

"You said that sex is good and that he makes you laugh and you might as well enjoy your life a little," Alicia countered.

"I enjoy my life, okay?" Raquel tried to defend herself. "But none of that matters because it was just a one-night stand," she shrugged. "I don't have his contact, he doesn't have mine, life goes on."

"So if you had exchanged numbers, could it be any different?" Mónica interfered.

"I don't know what it could be but... I know what it is and, in this case, it's nothing," she concluded.

Mónica raised an eyebrow, not sounding very convinced. "Nothing?"

"Well, not nothing," she tried to fix her own phrase. "But... as Alicia said, it was a start, you know?" She pressed her lips together in a thin line. "Maybe I... can really allow myself to enjoy more than I was allowing myself to."

"That's the spirit," Alicia tapped the steering wheel excitedly. “Promise me that you will start on this trip? That you will allow yourself to just enjoy yourself more?”

Raquel took a deep breath, unable to find a reason not to comply with her friend's request. "Vale. I promise."

_There’s certain things that should be left unsaid  
_ _Tick, tick, tick, tick on the watch  
_ _And life’s too short for me to stop  
_ _Oh, baby, your time is running out  
_ _I won’t let you turn around  
_ _And tell me now I’m much too proud  
_ _All you do is fill me up with doubt_

When they entered the city of Toledo, Alicia was still focused behind the wheel and Mónica was dozing off in the back seat. Raquel was distracted looking out the window from the passenger seat, watching the landscape – the fortified architecture, the squares full of trees, the people.

They were passing by the Tejo River to arrive, according to Google Maps, at the hotel where they were supposed to stay. Raquel opened the car window to feel the breeze on her face, her hair swaying in the wind as Alicia sang whatever song played on the radio.

Raquel closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking a deep breath, grateful for the opportunity to escape some of the worries that plagued her in the capital.

She opened her eyes again and faced life outside at the same time they passed a pedestrian in dress clothes, jacket and tie, dark beard and thick black-rimmed glasses – and she was almost sure it was Sergio.

She turned her face to try and get a better look at the passerby but he was already a few feet behind them.

"What?" Alicia asked, turning her face quickly to watch her.

“Nothing. I thought I saw a familiar face but I was wrong,” Raquel replied, relaxing on the seat again.

She sighed, shaking her head as if she was trying to get that man out of her thoughts. 

She was in Toledo, he was in Madrid, they were both many miles and two nights away from each other. Sergio was important in raising issues that she had been suppressing for a long time but he had been left behind.

It was time to think about her future.

_This time, baby, I’ll be bulletproof  
_ _This time, baby, I’ll be bulletproof  
_ _This time, baby, I’ll be bulletproof_  
This time, baby, I’ll be bulletproof


	7. Usted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola, cariños! 🥰
> 
> It took me a while to get this translation done because my life is a little chaotic right now, but here you go!
> 
> I hope you like it, it's one of my favorite chapters 🥺
> 
> I still haven't been able to reply to the comments but please know that they mean a lot to me and I look forward to every single one of them ❤️
> 
> 🎵 This chapter’s playlist starts with “Slip Away”, by Perfume Genius, and goes up to "Noite Severina", by Lula Queiroga, and you can listen to it here: https://tiny.cc/FYIW 🎵

__

_Been without it for so long  
_ _Forgot what it feels like  
_ _Been in the darkness 'til you came along  
_ _Showed me the daylight, yeah_

Raquel, Alicia and Mónica arrived at the hotel around eleven o'clock, as planned. They went up to get used to their shared room for that weekend and got ready to have lunch together at a restaurant nearby.

Afterwards, Raquel parted from her friends, who would take a walk around the city while she went in search of the address that the anonymous source had sent Prieto. When she got there and found the office building, she introduced herself to the doorman – a nice, middle-aged man named Benjamin –, informing him that she was thinking of renting that space for her business and asking if he could take her to see the vacant floor.

Raquel took some pictures of the place but it was completely empty. As if it really had been abandoned for years. She stopped in front of one of the windows, looking at the other buildings surrounding the one she was in – there was an art gallery, a restaurant and some places that seemed to function as offices for local companies.

"For how many years has this space been empty?"

"At least five years, ma’am," Benjamin replied. “The owner said he was going to use it as an office for his campaign but he never got to do anything here.”

"Campaign?" Raquel echoed, making a confused expression.

"Yeah, a senate campaign," the doorman replied, looking at his wrist watch. "I need to go back to the reception but you can take a look and give me the key at the exit."

"Thank you, Benjamin," she replied to him with a smile and looked around thoughtfully.

If this property belonged to Senator Gutiérrez, why was it not listed as one of his declared assets in his taxes?

Raquel didn't spend much time there but she felt frustrated because she really thought she was going to discover something that could help her more in the story. She went to a cafe, where she spent the rest of the afternoon reviewing the documents about the politician made available on the government's transparency portal and looking for some document that would certify that he owned that property.

There was something that didn't seem right with that Toledo address and Raquel was determined to find out what it was.

_And now I'm trying so hard  
_ _But I can't shake it, shake it, ooh no  
_ _Oh now I can't shake the memory  
_ _I can't fake it, fake it, fake it, fake it, ooh_

When Raquel returned to the hotel room at seven, Alicia and Mónica were lying on the double bed watching a movie on the television.

"Finally!" Alicia exclaimed, her head dramatically hanging back in relief.

"Good evening to you too," Raquel replied, rolling her eyes.

Mónica straightened up on the bed, lowering the volume on the tv. "How was work, Quel?"

"It could have gone better but... I'm done with it for today," Raquel threw herself on the empty single bed and looked at her friends. "What are you up to?"

"We were waiting for you to have dinner," the redhead replied.

"Hmmm, right," Raquel shook her head. "Is there time for me to nap for about twenty minutes?"

Mónica laughed. "We can bring you something if you want to."

"Do you mind if I don't go?" The journalist tilted her head, casting a suspicious look at Alicia.

"You can stay while we have dinner but you _will_ come with us later to Sithons!" The redhead decided.

"Okay, okay," Raquel replied, relieved to have at least a few hours to rest before escorting her friends to the club.

It was around nine-thirty when Alicia and Mónica returned. Raquel ate the food they brought her while they alternated in the bathroom to shower, and when they finished getting ready, Raquel looked at herself in the mirror, adjusting her gray ribbed dress, one of her favorites. It was a simple dress with a square neckline, long sleeves and a length that reached to the middle of her thighs, the fabric tightening in all of the right curves of her body. It was a comfortable dress but it made her feel incredible.

The three decided to go out for drinks at a bar near the hotel, talking and laughing until they decided it was time to head to the club. By the time they got there, it was already past midnight and the place was already full of both residents and tourists, a reggaeton playing in the background as they became familiar with the place.

It didn't take long, however, for Raquel's sense of tranquility to be pulled like a rug from under her feet.

"Ali, isn't that Ágata over there?" Mónica asked, pointing to a corner of the club, near the bar, where a group of people were gathered around a high table.

Raquel looked in the direction indicated by her friend and recognized the DJ instantly, but her attention was soon taken by the male figure who was standing next to her – _Sergio._

He was wearing a white dress shirt, this time without a tie and with the first two buttons open, the sleeves of the shirt rolled up exactly as they were in the dream she had.

Raquel immediately turned to face Alicia. "Ali?"

The redhead looked at her, her lips pressed together, waiting for her friend's reaction with a guilty expression on her face. Mónica frowned as she looked at them, trying to understand what was going on.

 _"You knew,"_ Raquel narrowed her eyes at her.

“Perdona, amiga,” Alicia offered her an embarrassed smile. "It's Ágata's birthday and she invited us and if I told you you would make up a thousand excuses and–"

 _“That's_ why you wanted us to come to Toledo,” Raquel snorted, interrupting her and finally putting all the pieces together.

"Hey," Mónica intervened, coming between the two of them. "Quel, I know you're upset with Alicia," she turned to the redhead with her eyes narrowed like a mother scolding an infant, _"and rightly so,"_ and back to the other journalist, "but we're already here, right? We had fun the other night and we can have fun again, eh?”

Raquel took a deep breath and, after a few seconds, simply nodded.

"Vale," the woman in front of her forced a small smile.

"Alicia!" They heard Ágata exclaim, raising her hand to wave at them.

The three of them looked in the direction of the group gathered there and Raquel saw the exact moment when Sergio recognized her, his eyes growing in a mixture of shock and confusion behind the lens of his glasses.

They approached the group in question, greeting them collectively. In addition to Ágata and Sergio, Silene, Andrés and Martín were also present, smiling at them politely. Raquel did not fail to notice that Sergio adjusted his glasses as the DJ walked around the table they were standing behind to receive them.

"I'm glad you came!" Ágata greeted, opening her arms to embrace Alicia.

"Feliz cumple, bonita," Alicia wished her in a low voice, hugging her back, and Raquel felt herself soften a little when she saw the affection exchanged between the two.

Ali really seemed to like her and as much as she was upset with her friend at that moment, she was happy for her. Really.

Then, Ágata turned around and hugged Mónica and Raquel at once.

"Happy birthday, querida," Mónica said, smiling.

"Happy birthday, Ágata," Raquel said, almost at the same time. "Thank you for inviting us."

Ágata parted from the two of them with a smile on her face and cocking an eyebrow.

“Are you kidding? Thank you for coming, because if _someone,”_ she turned her head around to speak louder and look directly at Andrés, who made an outraged expression, placing his hand on his chest and looking around him as if it wasn't him she was talking to. "... hadn't scheduled his wedding the day after my birthday, I guarantee the party would be much bigger."

"Well, just know that you have the great honor of having the groom in your party," he replied, gesturing to himself.

Ágata groaned. "I’d prefer the presence of the bride."

Everyone laughed, while Andrés made an insulted face, and the DJ raised her hands, alternately pointing her two index fingers at everyone around her.

"Who's going to pay for the next round of shots?" She asked.

“Come on, guapa, I'll pay for this one,” Martín volunteered.

"I'm going for a walk," Raquel said in Mónica's ear, smiling and nodding at the group, especially avoiding Sergio's gaze, and walking towards a double door she had no idea where would lead her to but at least would get her out of there.

_You remind me of something (ooh)  
_ _You remind me of something (ooh)  
_ _Something that I used to feel myself  
_ _Something that I used to feel  
_ _Like a heartbeat racing (ooh)  
_ _Like a new beginning (ooh)_

She desperately needed a cigarette.

A breath of fresh air, a cigarette, some time for her body to absorb the amount of alcohol already drunk in the bar near the hotel. She just needed a break.

She still couldn't believe that Alicia cornered her like that. A conversation about boundaries was on the horizon for two for some time to come – _for sure._

Raquel looked around the balcony and quickly found a group of women smoking. She approached them with an embarrassed smile.

"Hey," she greeted them. "Do you have a cigarette to spare?"

"Sure," one of the women reached into her purse and offered a cigarette to Raquel.

She thankfully took it from her hand and soon the woman who was next to her offered her a lighter. She lit the cigarette quickly, returning the lighter to the woman, and thanked them. 

Raquel moved away, leaning her back against the wall next to the door and watching the movement around her as she smoked.

She couldn't _rationally_ explain why she was so nervous. It had only been two days since she had met Sergio, and yes, they had a great night together – and a good part of the morning too – but none of that explained the tachycardia that made her heart almost jump out of her rib cage when she saw him. The sweat on her hands, her mouth suddenly going dry, the swirling in her stomach.

She was trying to quiet her breathing when Sergio walked out of the door next to her and she almost let the cigarette slip through her fingers. In some miraculous way, Raquel managed to save her cigarette and not burn herself in the process. She realized that Sergio hadn't seen her – thankfully – and that he was walking to the other side of the balcony with a glass of whiskey in hand. He looked anxious and Raquel started to debate internally whether or not she should go and talk to him.

On one hand, Raquel liked talking to him and he seemed deeply uncomfortable there, alone, in a nightclub yet again. On the other hand, she feared that going to talk to him would give him the wrong idea that she wanted something. With him.

Yes, _definitely_ the wrong idea.

Because Raquel certainly didn't want anything to do with him.

So it didn't make sense to go there, she had decided.

Until he turned his face and saw her.

As she was looking right at his face.

He smiled slightly at her and she knew, right then and there, that there was no escape. And that maybe, _just maybe,_ she didn't _want_ to escape.

She exhaled heavily and walked over to him, leaning on a high table where his glass of whiskey also rested upon.

"Hi," she said, smiling and leaning across the table, facing him.

"Hi," he smiled back.

Raquel tilted her head, making a mocking expression as she narrowed her eyes at him. 

"For someone who hates nightclubs, you certainly go to a lot of them."

Sergio laughed, lowering his gaze for a few seconds before looking back at her.

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "I respect my physical integrity, I would never miss Ágata's birthday."

"An intelligent man," she nodded. "She would finish you off in no time."

"I have no doubt," Sergio nodded in agreement. Then he looked at her curiously. "How about you? I thought you had to work.”

"I'm here because of work," she replied, inhaling the smoke from her cigarette slowly.

Sergio seemed to watch her in silence for a few seconds. Only when the smoke that she had released from her lips dissipated with the breeze did he seem to regain consciousness.

"Is your journalism practice based on going to nightclubs?" He frowned.

“And drinks,” Raquel added in a teasing tone.

"In that case your competition is very strong here, so many journalists in one place," he joked, gesturing to the space around her.

"It’s okay," she replied in a relaxed and confident manner. "I have what the rest don't."

Sergio raised his eyebrows, impressed. "Talent?"

She smiled, trying to ignore the fact that his compliment must have made her cheeks flush quickly.

Raquel shook her head.

"A fan," she smiled, pointing her index finger at him.

Sergio laughed again, his cheeks flushing in the process. "Touché."

“Thank you,” Raquel smiled, giving him a pompous bow.

When she looked back at him, she felt a chill in the pit of her stomach. There he was looking at her _like that_ again.

She put a lock of hair behind her ear silently but she could tell that he knew at once that she was feeling self-conscious. It was his observant manner that made her feel much more exposed when she caught him looking at her as if he wanted to unravel her, and the worst part is that as much as it made her anxious, a part of her liked it.

It was what she had said to Alicia, yes, Sergio made her feel _good._

But it was also more than that, and she might not be able to explain exactly what it was – if it was the feeling of comfort she felt when talking to him.

Or if it was because he was smart enough to know when to change the course of their interactions.

"Do you want whiskey?" He tried, sliding his glass across the table.

Raquel smiled gratefully and took the glass in her free hand, taking a sip of the drink before returning it to Sergio.

"I didn't know you smoked," he said, taking a sip of his drink.

"I don't smoke," Raquel replied, puffing the smoke to her left side.

He raised his eyebrows, holding back a smile. "And what’s this?"

"A distraction," she explained, putting the cigarette out in the table’s ashtray.

"Did you need to be distracted?"

"I needed to calm my nerves," she replied far too quickly, without thinking straight.

Sergio, however, did not miss a beat. "Were you nervous?"

Raquel moistened her lips with her tongue, afraid she had already said too much. "A little."

He took a few hesitant steps around the table, stopping in front of her and making the distance between them barely existent. Raquel tried to keep her breathing under control, alternating her gaze between his eyes and his lips.

"Why?" Sergio's voice came out hoarser than he intended and Raquel could tell that he was nervous, waiting for her reaction, although it was completely obvious what he wanted. _Her._ He wanted her.

And if she was being honest with herself, all she wanted to do since she saw him was to press her lips against his.

Her lips parted but before she could say anything, the sound of the door opening and familiar voices flooding the space made her break eye contact with Sergio to turn towards her friends, who had just left the club laughing at something with Ágata and Silene.

She took two steps back, installing a safe distance between the two, and Sergio swallowed hard, returning to stand behind the table as the women approached them.

"Raquel!" Silene exclaimed, pointing in her direction. "Alicia said you would probably want to smoke with us."

"Smoke what, exactly?" Raquel smiled, alternating her gaze between the women around her.

"My little candle," Ágata announced, waving a huge joint in front of her and putting it in her mouth shortly thereafter to light it.

“Babe, I got this for you,” Mónica offered Raquel a bottle of water and the journalist looked at her gratefully, taking the bottle from her and blowing her a kiss.

Silene and Ágata didn’t seem to have noticed that they interrupted anything – perhaps due to the amount of alcohol they had already consumed – and continued to chat animatedly but Alicia and Mónica exchanged some significant looks with Raquel, who simply shrugged her shoulders subtly and waited for the joint to reach her hands before offering it to the man who was silent beside her.

"You can pass it to me, Sergio doesn't smoke," Silene raised her hand to take the joint from Raquel's hand.

Sergio carefully removed Silene's hand. "What if I want to smoke?"

Silene and Ágata stared at him in surprise.

"Then please do," Silene held her hands up in resignation.

Raquel looked at him, uncertain as to why he – a man of habits as he himself had declared – had decided to do something so outside of his comfort zone.

Sergio let out a nervous breath, lifting his hand to take the joint, his fingers lightly touching those of the journalist, who was still staring at him expectantly.

He forced a small smile and raised the joint to his lips, pulling the smoke down his throat. He took the joint out of his mouth, holding it out to Silene and covering his mouth with his free hand to let out a cough.

"Everything okay there?" Silene asked.

Sergio nodded, his expression serious, and put his hand over his face to adjust his glasses. Soon Ágata entertained the group with the story of when she spent a weekend at a music festival in Ibiza and became friends with Mon Laferte – a fact that got Mónica very interested, as she was her favorite singer.

Raquel silently held her water bottle in front of Sergio, and when he looked at her, she offered him a gentle smile. He returned the smile and took the bottle from her, taking two sips before returning it.

He took a deep breath.

What the hell had he just done?

_You remind me of something else  
_ _Something that I used to feel  
_ _Something like what I've been missing  
_ _Ohh, like what I've been missing_

Sergio walked slowly behind them, following the women back inside the club, and he was already feeling dizzy with the effect of the joint. They found their way back to the table near the bar where Andrés and Martín were already waiting for them with one more shot of tequila for each.

"Aaaahhh, one more!" Ágata exclaimed, picking up her shot and a lemon wedge that was on the table. "Vamos, vamos," she encouraged the rest of the group, who gradually picked up the glasses set on the table and soon everyone chanted the mantra that preceded their ritual of downing shots.

_Arriba, abajo, al centro, pa dentro!_

Raquel rested her glass back on the table, sucking on the lemon wedge until it was drained of its juice. Then she put the lemon peel back on the plate and tried to focus on the conversations around her but unfortunately her attention was captured by the professor’s agonized expression, his shoulders tense, his anxious gaze darting from one point to another.

It was at that very moment that Sergio realized that the marijuana was exposing everything he hated most in these places: the proximity of the people around him, the far too noisy environment, the multiplicity of sensory stimuli.

He moved away from the table, turning his back on the group and trying to find the door they had just come from but the lights and people were taking away all his ability to spatially find himself. He didn't notice that his face was furrowed in a suffering grimace until he felt Raquel's hand on his arm.

"Sergio," she tilted her head, entering his field of vision and looking at him with concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

He nodded positively, despite his countenance telling another story.

"I'm just a little dizzy, I think," he explained, his eyes roaming around the space they were in, unable to focus on anything specific.

She continued to look at him, concerned.

"Do you want to go back outside?"

"No," he shook his head.

He didn't want to ruin Raquel's night. She was having fun with her friends, she was distracting herself after a day of work, she was at a club where she didn't expect to meet the strange man she had hooked up with two nights ago. He didn't want her to think that he needed someone to look after him but he also had no idea what to do.

Raquel bit her lower lip thoughtfully. She wanted to do something that could relieve that desperate feeling she could see in Sergio's eyes. She knew what it was like to feel paranoid after smoking a joint and she could see the agony on the professor’s face.

She looked around discreetly, realizing that their friends had already left the table where they were, leaving the two of them alone there, and took a deep breath. She would never be able to leave him by himself in that state and, to be honest, she didn't know if she _wanted_ to leave him. Period.

The journalist quickly considered what she could do and made a decision.

Without hesitating, she positioned herself in front of him, her hands framing his face as he tried to focus his gaze on hers.

"Hey, Sergio, do you trust me?" She asked, without interrupting eye contact with him. Sergio swallowed hard, nodding silently. "Come with me."

Raquel guided him with her both hands and walked him towards the dance floor, moving as far away from the people as possible and hiding in a dark corner under the air conditioner. She made Sergio stand with his back facing the crowd, looking at her.

"Close your eyes and breathe," she asked, her hands still holding his.

Sergio hesitated for a moment but obliged. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his breathing, even though he could feel some people moving around him and the music was too loud. Raquel positioned each of his hands on one side of her hips.

Then, she rested her hands on his chest to approach his ear, her lips brushing his skin.

"Focus on me," she said, before returning to her original position.

He felt Raquel start swinging her hips to the beat of the music, with each beat changing the course and moving in a different way. His hands, supported on each side of her waist, swayed along with her.

"The noise around you is just the music," she said, trying to calm him down. "The movements around you are just people dancing."

Raquel continued dancing, closing her own eyes and allowing herself to give in to that moment. The truth is that she was also high and slightly intoxicated herself and the idea of dancing with Sergio did not seem bad _at all._ She liked to feel his hands firm on her waist, the proximity of his body to hers.

She opened her eyes to realize that he was still standing still, with his eyes closed, the hands on her hips sweating with how nervous he was.

"If you dance a little, it helps," she suggested at the foot of his ear, purposefully taking one of her hands to the nape of his neck and stroking his hair.

Sergio opened his eyes slowly, looking at her hesitantly.

"I... I don't know how to dance," he replied.

"That’s not possible," she smiled. "Just close your eyes and move your hips like I'm doing."

He hesitated but took a deep breath and obliged to her request again. Raquel took her hands to his hips, making him sway slightly from side to side.

"There you go," she encouraged him, flashing him a smile. "You can move your feet too, it helps to get out of your own head.”

Raquel watched him try a few times, clumsy and still rather tense, but little by little his shoulders seemed to give in and relax for a second. She felt his hands grip her waist more firmly and considered it an advance – he seemed to be less nervous than he was a few moments ago. A little more confident.

A few minutes passed with them dancing like that. She smiled, dancing to the rhythm of the music, moving her hips and arms as she did. Raquel wiggled with whatever reverberated from the speakers, letting her hands slide down Sergio's arms or chest.

Eventually, Sergio couldn't help but open his eyes, ecstatic by her movements, and was pleasantly surprised when he noticed that she was looking at him with dilated pupils, biting the corner of her lower lip as if she were holding back.

It was at that moment that Raquel realized that she was, indeed, restraining herself and narrowed her eyes when the realization took over her mind.

Since when did she stop herself from doing anything?

She had promised herself, many years ago – since Alberto – that she would never restrain herself from doing what she wanted again and here she was trying to contain her desire to be with a man who had only treated her well – and _why?_

It didn't make sense. She was Raquel Murillo and she did whatever the fuck she wanted.

Maybe it was the tequila, or maybe it was the dream she had with him on Thursday, but Raquel was tired of getting lost in her own thoughts as if she were in a maze. So she put her arms around his neck and leaned in, her face so close to his she could feel his breath hitch. She threw herself back in the dance movements that made her feel so confident, his closeness so good that she realized he seemed to cause an effect on her as intoxicating as alcohol.

As if taken by his instinct, Sergio pulled her around the waist, pressing her body against his and she smiled, continuing to dance and grinding her hips on him. Sergio opened his mouth to say something but she interrupted him with a kiss before any words came out, their lips fitting perfectly together as she stroked his hair. His hands were sliding over her body and suddenly all Sergio could focus on was her.

Her body next to his, her lips, her hands caressing the back of his neck. All the people, all the noise, everything was left behind. If there was any chance that he would be overwhelmed by any stimulus, it would be because of _her._

When Raquel came to herself, she was leaning against the wall and their kisses only seemed to intensify as time went by. She lost track of how long they stayed there until he started to trail his kisses down her neck. She closed her eyes again and let his perfume invade her lungs and his beard scrape her skin... And he was focused on alternating between kissing and nibbling her neck.

When she felt his bulge through the fabric of his pants, she used one of the legs to hook around his and pull him even closer, pressing his erection against her. Raquel closed her eyes – this was even better than what she remembered. She sewed her fingers through the strands of his hair, pulling his face even closer to her.

"Sergio..." She almost moaned in his ear, biting his earlobe. He let out a growl that was drowned out by the loud music and all he could do as she nibbled on his ear was roll his eyes in pleasure. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

He looked at her and nodded, his beard brushing against her jaw and sending a shiver through her spine. “Yeah.”

_Ohh, something like what I've been missing  
_ _Ohh, so long I didn't know the difference, ooh  
_ _'Til you came around  
_ _To remind me of what I've been missing, missing_

Raquel bought two more bottles of water before they exited the nightclub and sent a message to Mónica saying that she was leaving with Sergio. When the two reached the sidewalk outside of Sithons, Raquel turned to the professor at the same time he let out a sigh of relief.

She broke into a smile. "Do you feel better?"

"I had forgotten how good air was," he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Then he opened his eyes again, turning to her. "Has oxygen always been this good?"

"Yes, but air is very underrated indeed," she laughed, offering him one of the water bottles.

Raquel's phone vibrated in her hand and she rolled her eyes when she saw that Mónica's reply consisted only of four emojis – “😏💋👅💦”.

Sergio drank the water in big sips and threw the plastic bottle in the trash can, turning back to look at the journalist again. His expression became softer and he felt himself smile as he looked at her. Her hair was flying in the wind, her gray dress was askew and her eyes were slightly swollen from the mixture of marijuana and alcohol.

She looked up, blocking her phone screen, to focus on him again.

"You are absurdly beautiful," he blurted out, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe his own eyes.

Raquel smiled, both shocked and embarrassed, and approached him to play with the collar of his shirt. "You’re drunk."

"Yes," he conceded, nodding. "But one thing has nothing to do with the other," he whispered, letting his hands find her waist and slide around her figure.

It was her turn to shake her head, making her ring piercing sparkle and wrinkling her nose in a playful frown. She looked down at the white fabric of Sergio's shirt before bringing her eyes to look at him again.

"Where are we going?" She asked, biting her bottom lip.

"Wherever you want," he instantly replied, making her laugh. He smiled, not quite sure why she was laughing in the first place.

"I need to put an address on the app so we can get out of here," she explained.

"Oh," he raised his eyebrows, finally understanding what she wanted.

"I'm sharing a room with the girls at the hotel."

"I'm renting an Airbnb that's... Wait," he stammered, pulling his phone out of his back pocket with one hand to get his own address.

He was too high to remember it without any aid, so he struggled for a few seconds to find the address as Raquel was holding back her laughter because of the confused expressions he made during the search, certainly clicking on many wrong apps – and distracted by the tips of her nails brushing the skin on the back of his neck – until he showed her the screen open in a note with his address on it.

"Found it."

"Okay, I'm going to get us a car then," she pulled away from him, with both phones in hand as she inserted his address in the app, clearly focused.

Sergio felt suddenly empty without her in his arms. How was that possible? What kind of spell did she put on him?

His mind was spinning and he found himself thinking about how it was possible that they were together again when he was absolutely sure he would never see her again.

What kind of luck did he have for that woman in front of him to be willing to put up with him completely stoned and _still_ want to go home with him?

"It's arriving any minute now," she said, looking up from her phone screen and handing his phone back. "There," she waved to an oncoming car that slowed down until it stopped in front of them.

Sergio tried to quiet his mind as they got into the back seat of the car and greeted the driver but suddenly he remembered that he had smoked in front of everyone and soon the paranoia started to haunt him like the plague.

"Raquel..." He called to her, turning his face to look at her with a fearsome expression. "Did anyone see me smoking?"

She frowned, not quite following his question, but replied truthfully. "The people on the balcony saw you smoke."

"If they saw me smoke, everyone knows I smoked..." His eyes widened in shock. "Raquel, my students know I smoked!"

She held back a laugh. "Sergio, your students live in Madrid."

He pressed his lips together, thoughtful. "You’re right."

Raquel continued to watch him and she saw on his face that he was about to spiral down further into his paranoia.

Said and done, he immediately opened his mouth: “What if—”

"Sergio, what is your favorite color?" She interrupted him, reaching out to take his hand and pulling their clasped hands to rest on her lap.

He looked at his hand in hers, their fingers intertwined on top of her legs, and the worries that occupied his mind quickly disappeared. He could feel Raquel's thumb lightly caress the back of his hand and suddenly, when he blinked his eyes, the answer to her question came up behind his eyelids, the color taking over his whole brain like a can of ink had been spilled on it.

"Red," he murmured.

"Red," she repeated, nodding and giving him a curious look. "Why red?"

Sergio wouldn't remember exactly what he said the next day but he started to explain in great length and detail the reasons why red was his favorite color – he talked about colorimetry, the making of red pigments at the beginning of human history and the very etymology of the word ‘red’. Raquel smiled during his soliloquy, which lasted the entirety of the short drive from the club to the apartment he had rented.

Listening to other men speaking nonstop would have been a decisive factor for Raquel to flee in other circumstances but at that moment, seeing him all tangled up in his own words, drunk and stoned, trying to be as complete as possible in response to such a simple question, she was only able to feel satisfied that she had managed to distract him from the paranoia that had flared up again.

There was something almost tender in the way Sergio spoke and she found herself thinking that he indeed had the manners of a great teacher.

When they arrived at their destination address, Sergio already seemed to have completely forgotten what he was talking about, concentrating on taking step after step up the stairs without stumbling.

He opened the apartment door for Raquel to enter, asking only that they both left their shoes at the door due to a rule by the owner, and turned on a floor lamp in the living room, illuminating the entire space with a dim yellow and comfortable light.

It was a small studio apartment but it was very charming. Wooden floors, a kitchen separated from the living room by a counter, a coffee table with cushions around it and, under a large window, on a wooden platform, was the double bed, taking up the entire room.

"This is beautiful," Raquel said, her eyes scanning the space around her.

"Yes," Sergio nodded. "I’ve already rented it a few times for the conferences I attended here," he smiled. "Er... make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you," she smiled, placing her bag on the coffee table.

"Do you want to drink anything?" He asked, holding the refrigerator door while mentally compiling the options available. "I have water, juice, sparkling water, wine–"

"Water," she interrupted him, before he kept on going with the full menu.

"Okay," he smiled.

Raquel noticed that arriving in a familiar environment seemed to make the professor more relaxed and his anxiety seemed to have dissipated almost completely.

She approached a small bookcase that had a record player and a series of vinyls on its two shelves.

Her eyes sparkled. "Does the owner let you play this vinyl collection?"

"Yes," Sergio smiled, looking up from the two glasses of water he was pouring. "Pick one."

Raquel bit her lip as she strolled through the collection until she found one that made her smile. Buckingham Nicks, 1973.

She took the vinyl out of its cover and placed it on the record player cautiously, pressing the power button and waiting for the first notes of Crying in the Night to echo across the room. She smiled, satisfied with her choice, and walked over to the counter.

Sergio offered her one of the glasses.

"Here you go."

"Thank you," she took the glass from his hand, taking a sip as she looked around. "Sergio..."

He finished taking his own sip before he managed to answer her. "Hm?"

Raquel smiled, mischievous. "Do you have anything sweet to eat?"

The truth is that she was feeling the munchies and couldn't imagine anything better to eat than something sweet.

"Something sweet..." He frowned thoughtfully and rested the glass on the counter to open the refrigerator and the cupboard door at once. “I have… bananas. And... and... oatmeal. Oatmeal can be sweet, right?”

Raquel came around the counter to stand beside him. "May I…?"

"Sure," he made room for her to look at the options and take a mental inventory of the ingredients.

"Okay… Okay," she said, taking some ingredients from the fridge and pantry and placing them on the counter. "We have what we need for banana pancakes."

"We do?" He cocked an eyebrow in surprise at her quick determination.

"Yes," she nodded, smiling confidently. "Can you get me a bowl and a fork?"

Sergio opened another cupboard door to take out a porcelain bowl, then a drawer to pick up a fork and then watched, in silence, the journalist mash the bananas and mix the ingredients together, concentrated.

"Raquel, you're making a mess," he looked dazedly at the sink counter, that was covered with oatmeal and wheat flour, shaking his head.

She frowned, pretending to be insulted. "Hey, don't complain about the chef."

"I am not complaining, I am verifying a fact," he replied, raising his index finger to highlight his statement.

Raquel smiled, rolling her eyes. "It’s impossible to cook without making a mess, Sergio."

"I cook without making a mess."

"Do you?" She turned to him, raising an eyebrow defiantly.

He didn't realize that she had dipped her fingertip into the mixing bowl until she ran it across his cheek.

"And what is this over here?" She smiled, victorious, when she saw him with his mouth agape in shock and took the opportunity to slide her finger across his forehead too. "And here?"

"Stop, Raquel!" He exclaimed, between laughter, holding her wrist to keep her from getting any more of the mixture on his face. In the movement, Raquel ended up pressed between him and the sink counter, looking up at him with a goofy smile on her face that seemed to reflect his.

Sergio didn't think too much at that moment. He just leaned in to give her a kiss – in fact, a series of slow kisses that made Raquel forget to breathe. When he pulled away to look at her again, one of his hands holding hers against his chest and the other around her waist, he had completely forgotten what they were doing.

Raquel let out an almost imperceptible sigh and the two exchanged a knowing smile before she raised her free hand to wipe his forehead and cheek.

They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, lulled by the alternating voices of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham coming out of the record player, until Sergio leaned over to leave a long kiss on her cheek and pulled away, still smiling, to pick up two plates in the cabinet.

She wiped her hands on the dish towel before turning back to the bowl, stirring the pancake mixture again. The question that Alicia asked her a few days ago echoed in her ears: _how does he make you feel?_

Raquel bit her bottom lip, unable to hide the smile on her face.

She didn't remember the last time she felt so good.

_Been asleep inside this dream  
_ _I'm trying to wake up  
_ _Waiting for something to come and rescue me  
_ _Give me a reason, yes_

They were sitting on the cushions near the coffee table, in the living room, and the already empty plates had made room for two glasses of wine as they talked and laughed without even feeling the time go by. The music had stopped playing long ago but neither of them bothered to replace the album.

Raquel realized that she liked that.

Not just the kisses and sex but his _company._

The knowledge he had about so many different subjects and things, his clever jokes, the silence during which he actually listened to her – not thinking about something to say next, not pretending to pay attention because he wanted something but because he was _actively_ listening to her.

She liked the way he spoke, the nervous tic of adjusting his glasses on his face when he was nervous, the dimples that appeared on his cheeks when he smiled and how his eyes turned into half moons when he did.

The realization came when they fell into another moment of comfortable silence – sitting across from each other, propped up on the table while looking at each other.

She was intoxicated enough to even verbalize that before filtering out the words.

"I'm glad I found you here," she confessed in a small voice.

He was taken aback – she could see it in her eyes. And uncertain of what to do, before he could answer her, she decided to close the distance between them with a kiss. Sergio didn't seem to mind because when she moved away a few inches, leaving her eyes half open to spy on his reaction, he kissed her again, and then all the words became unnecessary.

Soon she was sitting on his lap, straddling him, their breaths mingling and the sound of their kisses were the only sounds that filled the room. Sergio could feel her body pressing against his and his hands were absolutely lost sliding over her ass, back, neck and hair, from one point to another as if he couldn't stick to one place.

This time, when he slid his hand over her ass again, he was a little more confident and let his fingers tighten his grip on her. Raquel responded with a groan and bit the professor's lower lip, pulling it lightly between her teeth.

Sergio opened his eyes just a few seconds before she released his lip and even in the dim light that lit the room only partially, he could see her eyes, burning flames reflected in her irises as if they were on fire. Inhaling one last time, he pulled her back for another kiss – the air in his lungs was no longer enough for him to keep breathing, he needed _her._

Raquel took his glasses off his face, leaving them on the coffee table next to her glass of wine and then they kissed again.

Somehow, the two of them stood up without even interrupting their physical contact and the moment they stood Sergio held her up, making Raquel wrap her legs around his waist. He walked over to the bed, pressing his body against hers, and lay down carefully on the mattress, with her on top of him.

She felt that with each kiss they exchanged, her body became more and more feverish, responding to each of his touches with an unconscious movement and she suddenly wished their bodies could defy the laws of physics, merge and occupy one place at the same time.

Sergio looked up at her again and the journalist was about to pull up the hem of her dress to get it off her body when he held her wrists gently, without applying any force, but making her stop moving and look up to face him right away.

He didn’t know what had made him react that way, so instinctively, but he suspected that, at that moment, she was the reason for all his actions, all his impulses, as if she had awakened in him everything that was most primal and carnal.

"Not yet," he whispered, letting go of her wrists, and Raquel could have sworn that demand hadn't been from Sergio, the shy professor she met two nights ago, but another Sergio, who she still had no idea existed until that moment.

She felt her heart flutter, not knowing exactly what to expect, but she would be lying if she said she hadn't been even more excited by the tone of his voice. She swallowed hard, waiting for his next move.

Sergio noticed the anticipation in the journalist's eyes and pulled her in for an intense kiss. He felt her fingers sew strands of his hair while the other hand dragged the tips of her nails across the back of his neck and over his shoulder.

He was trailing a path of kisses on her neck, his hands sliding under her dress to pull her panties down, pushing it down to her knees while his lips brushed the exposed skin of her collarbone.

“Lie down,” he asked in a hoarse voice and all Raquel could do was sit on her heels and prop herself down on her elbows until she was lying with her back on the bed, her legs bent as he finished dragging her panties down her legs until the fabric fell to the floor.

Sergio lay on top of her, kissing her again and Raquel could feel herself getting wetter by the second. Impatiently, she began to undo the buttons of his shirt blindly, too focused on responding to the kisses that were taking her breath away. Raquel pulled the blouse to open it and, in her rush, the sounds of buttons being popped interrupted their kiss.

She looked at him, her lips swollen and her eyes wide with a mixture of shame and nervousness while she held back an inopportune smile.

"Sorry," she murmured and he, until then surprised, just smiled and let out a laugh that infected her as well.

He leaned over her again, still smiling when he kissed her and helped her take his shirt off his body, throwing it on the floor without thinking twice. Sergio pulled the fabric of the dress up to Raquel's waist, taking one of his hand between her legs and when the tips of his fingers strolled over her slit, any trace of smile she had on her face had been replaced by an expression of delight – eyes closed, frowning, mouth half open, breathing hard.

She threw an arm around his shoulders, letting out a sly moan.

He continued to move his finger gently, almost as if he wasn't touching her, and the anticipation made her feel delirious.

"Sergio, please," she whispered.

He started tracing small circles on her clit, trailing kisses down the journalist's neck. Raquel felt her shiver and allowed her approval to come out of her mouth in the form of small, meaningless murmurs. When he penetrated her with one finger, she moaned loudly – Sergio's fingers continued to move against her, his thumb continuing to stimulate her clit, and his other finger stimulating her internally, looking for a specific point of pressure that had made her eyes roll two nights ago. Raquel responded by digging her nails into the professor's skin, leaving the marks of small crescent moons on his shoulder.

Sergio kept moving his fingers until she arched her back and then – he stopped.

Raquel looked at him with a frown, confused, but he silently started to take off her dress, sliding it slowly over her body and pulling it off her head and arms until it was another layer added to the pile of clothes on the floor.

He leaned over her again, kissing her lasciviously, and in return she began to unbutton his pants, then using her feet to help push the pants down to his heels. He smiled against her lips, helping her with the process and effectively dropping the garment off his feet.

She dragged her fingertips over Sergio's underwear, stimulating him further and making him breathe a sigh into her mouth. Before she could slide her hand into his underwear, he started to lay kisses down her neck, lingering on the spot below her ear he knew made her lose track of whatever she was doing, and then kept trailing his kisses until he reached her collarbone.

Raquel tilted her head back as he continued to descend, the professor's warm breath bristling the sensitive skin of her breasts, until he grazed his teeth over her right nipple, making her moan and shiver from head to toe. He did the same on her left nipple, then closed his lips around it and sucked it.

Sergio went back to her right breast before going further south, kissing her belly and the skin of her pelvis, but before he got to where she wanted him so bad, he made a detour and continued to leave the kisses on her right leg, then alternating to the left, the contrast between the softness of the lips and the roughness of his beard making Raquel sigh with pleasure.

She put a hand on his hair, pulling it lightly as if it would make him understand what she wanted – _needed_ – from him, but he continued to kiss her everywhere except where she most wanted.

"Sergio, you know what I want," she muttered under her breath, making him smile.

He ran his beard on the inside of Raquel's thigh and she let out another shaky breath in a mixture of satisfaction and frustration.

"What do you want?" He asked, his voice deeper and hoarse than usual, before sliding the tip of his tongue across her slit.

She let out a breath, her free hand gripping the fabric of the sheet she was lying on, but he didn't continue.

Raquel closed her eyes, trying to regain some stability so that her voice would not falter. He waited for her to answer him and returned to leaving kisses on her inner thighs while she opened her eyes to find him looking back at her.

She smiled mischievously. Two could play this game.

"I want you to make me come already because in a little while I want to make you moan my name," she replied resolutely.

And she got the reaction she expected: Sergio's lips parted in surprise and in a certain nervousness but his eyes shone with an intensity that didn’t need any words.

He didn’t hesitate for another moment and leaned in, sliding his tongue through her slit until he reached her clit, alternating between moving his tongue and sucking that spot, making her moan.

"Yes, just like that," she murmured, and Sergio obeyed her, maintaining the same speed and pressure he had encountered.

Then he penetrated her with two fingers, bending them inward and making her scream with pleasure and causing her legs to uncontrollably close around his head for an instant, already feeling her orgasm approaching like a wave. She began to move her hips against his mouth, further intensifying her own pleasure.

Sergio skillfully continued to suck on her clit and penetrate her with his fingers, his hands holding her by the waist, until Raquel let out a shaky moan from the bottom of her throat, feeling the orgasm take her from head to toe and flooding her continuously until it overflowed from her into his mouth.

With her eyes closed, still recovering from the orgasm that left her with weak and hissing breaths, Raquel could feel Sergio continue his movements, now much more subtle and slow, his fingers still inside her and his mouth still on her throbbing clit.

She opened her eyes slowly, her eyelids still heavy, and watched him, still focused on giving her pleasure. She smiled, taking her hand back to his hair and stroking it. He looked up to glance at her, and when he saw the groggy smile on her face, he smiled back.

Sergio took his fingers out of her slowly, bringing them to his mouth and sucking on them before turning his face to leave a kiss on one of her legs and this time start the reverse movement, trailing his kisses up her body until he reached the journalist’s neck, who gasped with the equally erotic and affectionate kisses that he distributed on her neck and just below her ears.

Raquel pulled his hair back, this time to bring his lips to hers and kiss him slowly, tasting herself on his tongue. She pulled away to end the kiss, her lips swollen and pink and her eyelids parted open, looking at him with a sensuality that left him breathless.

"My turn," she declared, pushing him onto the mattress and sitting on top of him.

He looked at her – her loose light brown hair with golden highlights, falling over her shoulders and breasts, her nipples still hard, her perfectly shaped curves.

Raquel Murillo was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

And as if she had read his thoughts, she broke into a gorgeous smile that was soon replaced by a naughty one when she started rubbing her sex against his already hard bulge, over the fabric of the underwear he was still wearing.

Sergio let out a heavy breath and she bit her bottom lip in an attempt to hide a victorious smile. She liked to be in control. She stepped off him to remove his underwear and grab a condom packet from her bag, opening it with her teeth before sitting back with one leg on each side of the professor’s body.

The journalist looked at him, who was still watching her in silence, and slid her fingers through her intimacy before bringing her own lubrication to his already stiffened cock. He, in turn, only managed to gasp. She started by holding the base of his cock with one hand and stroking his head with the other, which has already made Sergio shiver from head to toe and hiss through clenched teeth.

Then she made a circle with her thumb and forefinger and wrapped it around the head of his cock, moving her wrist to make back and forth movements at its length while tightening and loosening her grip.

 _"Raquel..."_ He sighed softly, eyes closed, as if her name was some kind of prayer.

She smiled and started using her entire hand to massage him, from top to bottom, from bottom to top, from side to side, all of her movements making Sergio wonder how the hell he lived for so many years without knowing that this kind of pleasure existed.

"Raquel, please," he growled, clutching her legs with his hands, holding on as long as possible to keep himself from coming.

She didn't need to hear him twice and took the condom from the already opened package already to put it on Sergio's hard cock. She got on her knees to position him against her entrance and he looked at her with a desire to record that moment on his mind forever.

Sergio slid his hands over her thighs, squeezing them tightly as she sank down on him, allowing the two of them to fit together, almost in slow motion, until he filled her up with his full length.

Raquel closed her eyes for a moment, getting used to his size, but soon began to swing her hips slowly, in small circular movements.

He waited for her to guide the speed and intensity, mirroring her in her movements and biting his lower lip. She let her hands rest on his abdomen for greater stability and within a few minutes she started to roll her hips more quickly, licking her own lips in pleasure.

He responded to her increased speed by pulling his hips away from hers just to thrust her again, making her moan loudly. Raquel's vocal approval made him continue to thrust into her repeatedly.

"More, more, more," she murmured, letting her head hang back and resting her hands on his legs.

Sergio followed her instructions, thrusting into her hard and taking his thumb between her legs to stimulate her already sensitive clitoris.

 _"AH,"_ Raquel exclaimed. "Right here, right there..."

He let out a small grunt and Raquel opened her eyes, taking one of her hands to caress his arm, calling him to look up at her.

"Come with me," she asked, without moving.

She only said two words but Sergio understood perfectly what she meant by them. She didn't just want him to come with her, she wanted him to enjoy it as much as she was enjoying it, to allow himself to make whatever sound he wanted to, like she did without any shame.

"Raquel," he groaned hesitantly.

 _"Sergio,"_ she replied with an even more erotic moan, which made him pulse inside her.

This time, he surrendered like she did, allowing the name of the woman who drove him absolutely crazy to come out of his throat like an almost guttural sound. _"Raquel."_

And then she moaned loudly, craning her neck and tossing her hair back. She buried her nails in the professor's skin, her muscles compressing around him and making him give himself up too, moving his hips to thrust into her one last time before emitting a hoarse grunt shortly thereafter.

Raquel allowed the weight of her body to make her fall forward, on top of him, closing her eyes. Sergio pulled her hair aside, freeing the back of the journalist's neck to receive the breeze that came through the open window.

And while they were catching their breath, still panting, neither of them managed to move or say a word.

_And now I'm trying so hard  
_ _But I can't shake it, shake it, oh no  
_ _Oh now I can't shake the memory  
_ _I can't fake it, fake it, fake it, fake it, oh_

A few minutes later, they were still lying in bed in comfortable silence. Raquel was now lying on her side, her head resting on his chest, eyes closed, as she felt Sergio's fingers slowly slide down her spine.

She took a deep breath and settled further on the bed, her body still pressed to his. It was only when she opened her eyes that she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that he was looking at her.

She turned her face to look at him curiously. "What?"

"Nothing," he shook his head, fixing his gaze on the ceiling.

"Sergio," she raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Seriously," he smiled through his own nervousness.

 _"Sergio,"_ she repeated, propping herself up on one elbow to look him in the eye.

He let out a shaky, hesitant breath. "I don’t know if you’ll like what I have to say…"

Raquel watched him in silence for a few moments, stroking the hair on his chest.

"Give me a chance to decide, huh?" She asked sweetly.

Sergio took a deep breath, as if he was gathering the courage to say what was on his mind.

“ _Y hoy_ …” He began, rather hesitantly. “ _Mientras los dos nos mirábamos de reojo, cada uno en un extremo de la barra,_ ” he continued, one of his fingers delicately caressing her lower back. “ _Mi guedeja más anarquista ha optado definitivamente por afiliarse a sus ojos._ ”

Raquel swallowed hard, staring at him without really knowing what to answer.

She was expecting many other things but not _that._

"Almudena Guzmán," she finally whispered, more to herself than to him.

“I figured you knew her,” Sergio smiled, still unable to look at her.

"She is one of my favorite writers," she replied.

He finally looked at her, noticing that she was smiling, her eyes shining as if they were full of happy tears. It was one of the most beautiful moments he had been lucky enough to see.

"Mine too," he smiled.

She frowned. "Why did you think I wouldn't like it?"

"I don't know... I don't know what’s the... appropriate etiquette when it comes to reciting poetry after..." He babbled nervously and Raquel had to hold back a laugh. _The appropriate etiquette._ "After…"

"After having sex?" She added, raising an eyebrow in question.

“Pues… sí,” he replied, his cheeks burning red with shame, and Raquel took a deep breath.

"I think it’s an appropriate etiquette if you belong to the nineteenth century."

He looked at her, bewildered. "I... Raquel, I just remembered the poem, I hope that–"

She interrupted him with a loud laugh, letting her forehead rest against his chest while she caught her breath.

"Sergio, I'm kidding," she said when she finally looked back at him.

"Still," he continued, concerned. "Please, forget I said anything, I don't want to–"

She interrupted him again, resting her naked body over his, her arms resting on the pillow in order to frame his head and keep it extremely close to her face, her fingers slowly sewing the strands of his raven black hair.

For a moment, Sergio forgot all the words in the dictionary. He felt her nipples against his chest and he almost ran out of breath when she tilted her head to kiss his neck.

“ _Este hombre que ahora cerca mi cuello_ ,” she declared in a hoarse voice, trailing her kisses down his neck, then his jaw, until she reached his lips. “ _Con su sabia muralla de labios_ ,” she continued, her own lips brushing against his.

He couldn't help but smile, raising a hand to hold a lock of her hair that insisted on the sin of covering her face, his fingers lightly caressing the back of the journalist's neck, and she smiled back, before trying to bring some seriousness back to her expression, trying to concentrate on the rest of the poem.

“ _Quizá abandone de pronto la almena_ ,” she sighed, her voice ever lower and softer, as she moved her head to make the tips of their noses touch. “ _Quizá desaparezca para siempre_ ,” she slid the tip of her nose over his, stopping her movements when she reached his eye level, prolonging eye contact with him, her mouth ajar for a few seconds before she managed to finish her recitation. “ _Porque tiene un tacto en la mirada que recuerda las plumas de los pájaros_.”

Sergio looked at her in awe and shook his head almost imperceptibly – no words could get through his throat at that moment, it was physically impossible.

So he did his best to express what he felt as he pulled her in for a kiss, his lips gently meeting hers, his fingers caressing her face and her back as they kissed.

The way their bodies fit together, how she felt his lips against hers, how her heart accelerated as they continued to kiss – those sensations she had never felt before were absurdly addictive.

When Raquel pulled away to catch her breath and looked at him again, she knew that she had made a grotesque, giant, irremediable mistake.

Because for the past few years, every time she kissed someone else, that person turned into another warm body she could have sex with. Their gazes mixed, their bodies moved, their faces blurred and their names, without any doubt, disappeared the moment those bodies left her bed.

And that was great. It was functional. It was a moment of skin-to-skin contact and, after she got what she wanted, she went on with her life, alone, without thinking about anyone.

However, since that fateful Wednesday, there was something different. When she went after him at that party at the Gran Meliá, she wasn't going after a total stranger. When she kissed him on that balcony and later, when she had sex with him, he didn't become a blur like everyone else did. When she left him in the room the next morning and ran away, she didn't forget his name.

It was still him. Sergio.

And it scared her immensely because if he hadn't been meaningless to her, it meant she hadn't been a blur to him either.

She had been Raquel.

At some point, she had let her guard down and now, when she looked at him and he gave her that look that made her feel so vulnerable, all she could think was that she could get used to it. To him.

Unable to say anything or to keep gazing at him, she lay back on top of him, her cheek against his chest and, when Sergio's arms tightened around her, she only managed to close her eyes and wish she wasn't making a terrible mistake.

_Ohh, it almost slipped away, ohh  
_ _Oh ooh, but on my darkest day_

 _You remind me of something (ooh)  
_ _You remind me of something (ooh)  
_ _Something that I used to feel myself (ooh)  
_ _Something that I used to feel  
_ _Like a heartbeat racing (ooh)  
_ _Like a new beginning (ooh, ooh)_

_You remind me of something else (ooh, ooh)_   
_Something that I used to feel  
Something like what I've been missing_


End file.
